Womenswear retailer Bonmarche is moving into The Garden Centre Group at Bicester Avenue Garden Centre in Oxfordshire. It plans to open up to three or four branches based in other garden centres over the next few months as a trial.
Bonmarché, which is owned by investment group Sun European Partners, believes that it can take advantage of the mature consumer base of garden centres.
Beth Butterwick, managing director at Bonmarché, said: "Gardening is one of the biggest leisurely pursuits within the plus 45-year-old age group so for us this is an ideal partnership.
"Increasingly, people are visiting garden centres as destinations in which to browse, eat and spend leisure time. We believe there is further scope for similar partnerships like this one in future."
TGCG is set to franchise out other parts of its business, with catering and other non-gardening departments earmarked for concessions.
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