Make It Memorable with Paul Pleydell & Barry Knight - Glee 2025 Live

About this episode

This episode discusses how garden centres can enhance customer experience and profitability through smart design and food offerings.

Garden centres aren’t just about plants anymore. Recorded live at Glee 2025, Phil & Kate sit down with Paul Pleydell of Pleydell Smithyman and Barry Knight of The Full Range to unpack how experience, smart design and a considered food offer can lift margins, smooth seasonality and win younger families. From “make it better before you make it bigger” to being famous for something (yes, even a lemon meringue pie a foot high), this episode is packed full of ideas for teams who want their site to be talked about for the right reasons. Guests Paul Pleydell — Director, Pleydell Smithyman, design & business consultants for the garden and rural sector. Barry Knight — Director, The Full Range, food procurement & consultancy serving 50+ independent garden centres. What you’ll learn: Experience first: If a customer can’t finish the sentence, “I went to your garden centre and guess what…”, you’ve not created a memorable visit. Make signature moments people want to share. Food as a profit engine: Why cafés and food halls boost dwell time, attract younger families, and should lead your site’s highest margins, when the offer is right. Be famous for something: From giant scones to a…

People in this episode

Hosts: Phil, Kate

Guests: Paul Pleydell, Barry Knight

Topics covered

• garden centres
• experience design
• food offerings
• profit margins
• younger families

Keywords

• garden centres
• experience
• food profit
• younger families
• design

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Pleydell Smithyman, The Full Range

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