Garden centre claims top award
Store named Mitre 10 MEGA Garden Centre of the Year
Mitre 10 MEGA Te Awamutu has recently won Garden Centre of the Year. Every year Mitre 10 MEGA runs a competition for the best departments within the MEGA group.
This year’s Mitre 10 MEGA awards night was held in San Francisco, California. Nikki and Daniel Fitzgerald, who is the Mitre 10 MEGA Te Awamutu managing director, collected the award and were “absolutely chuffed”.
Mitre 10 MEGA Te Awamutu is one of the smaller garden centres in the Mitre10 MEGA group.
“There are loads of larger stores who do not sell as much plant life as we do because we are not afraid to buy heaps in. The real mission is fitting all that plant life into this smaller space. It is a constant juggle,” garden centre manager, Lachlan Chambers said.
“We have entered into those competitions every year since we opened in 2011. We have placed as runnerup three times for this award.”
Winning is a “kudos” for the store which gives the staff a morale boost for the staff, store and owners — and community.
Chambers says this year they had the figures to back up being in the competition.
“We have customers who travel over from Tauranga, Piopio and Maniaiti/Benneydale. They come
here because our garden centre always looks gorgeous.”
One of the judges remarked to Chambers that the garden centre looked absolutely stunning, Then another judge added that their store “always looks like this”.
“That is what we try to do here, we want it to look immaculate for the customers.
“The staff here are amazing and ensure the place looks amazing, They know intuitively what to do and how to make it look appealing.”
Chambers says their staff of nine has helped keep up the high standards.
The staff are Wendy Chambers, Lachlan Chambers, Katrina Macfarlane, Shelley Sager, Kodie Redshaw, Kerry Flintoff, Kirstin George, Sam McQuilkin and Lynne Maynard.
One aspect that contributes to the Mitre 10 Mega Te Awamutu’s success is the culture in Waipā around people’s love of their gardens.
“There used to be plant nurseries all over this area, and everyone has always been into their plants,” says Chambers.
“Back in the days of Mitre 10, it was the second-biggest seller of seedlings in the group and country, beating out stores across the country and in the major cities. That proves that the Waipā is a real gardening area.”