GardenSite Networks with Garden Suppliers at GLEE Birmingham 2022

With GLEE 2022 held in June this year (rather than the standard September schedule) it felt surreal when the tickets and event emails popped into our inboxes in mid-May reminding us that the UK’s leading garden and outdoor living trade show was fast approaching in just a few short weeks!

Last year’s event was one to remember as GardenSite chairman, Robert Hall, took some new faces from the GardenSite team to experience the show and see what all the fuss was about. Both Gaby and Kayleigh from the customer care department enjoyed attending the event with the highlight being meeting some of our long-standing suppliers and business partners.

With most of our trading facilitated online nowadays and most communications had over the phone or via email, it was a real treat for them to finally be able to put some faces to names. Here at GardenSite, we feel it is important to take the time to meet with our business partners in person where possible in order to continue to strengthen our existing relationships, and that’s why GLEE is a treasured and always highly-anticipated event for our team!

The 27th June soon came around and after a short 9-mile drive from GardenSite’s Show Site in Sutton Coldfield to the NEC in Birmingham where GLEE is held, we were ready to begin our day! Our first point of call was at the Anglo Aquatic stand where we met with Caroline Everett, company director, who was showcasing some of their new products for 2023. We have been working with Anglo Aquatics for a number of years now and are looking forward to continuing to retail their plants next season.

Next on the agenda was to say hello to one of our longest-standing suppliers, Bob Meacham from Bermuda (more commonly known as ‘Bermuda Bob’ amongst the GardenSite staff!).

We have been retailing Bermuda products for over 25 years both online and in our aquatics superstore and it’s always a pleasure to have a chat and discuss the year’s sales and future orders with Bob. This year was no different and we look forward to another successful quarter doing business with the Bermuda team.

We then met with Karolina Pietka from Jagram, one of our largest suppliers of wooden canopies and gazebos. Having travelled all the way from Warsaw, Poland to attend the show, we made sure to designate a time slot to meet with them and have a well overdue catch up (due to them missing the last 2 GLEE events because of Covid and restricted travel!). David Coton and Karolina spoke about future promotions on some of their best-selling lines, including the Jagram Brompton gazebo and Cotswold canopy ranges.

Our next point of call was with a potential new supplier by the name of ‘Hex Living’ who are based in Staffordshire and manufacture premium-quality metal sheds and garden storage solutions.

We have seen a huge increase in people purchasing metal sheds as a staple for their garden post-Covid when people spent their time, money and effort on doing up their garden or outdoor space in lieu of being able to go out. We are excited to welcome the Hex team to GardenSite HQ within the next few weeks to discuss retailing their products via our website.

Other supplier’s stands that we visited included Zest Direct, Biohort, Hamac Trading, Riverco and Rowlinson GP.

All in all, GLEE 2022 was a great success and we were happy to be able to attend despite the event being moved forward to June (right in the middle of our peak trading season)! David Coton and David Hall are already looking forward to the next event and we hope to be able to take more of the GardenSite team to experience the 2023 show!