Inverness-based Simpsons Garden Centre is named Scotland's Destination Garden Centre of the Year by the Garden Centre Association (GCA)
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
AN Inverness garden centre scooped an array of accolades from an industry body's annual awards.
The Garden Centre Association (GCA) named Inshes-based Simpsons Garden Centre Destination Garden Centre of the Year for Scotland.
Simpsons also picked up the awards for Best Restaurant, Outdoor and Indoor Living, Gardening products plus the Environment and Sustainability accolades.
According to managing director Andrew Simpson, this is all down to the hard work, creativity and enthusiasm of the Simpsons team.
He said: “These awards are a fitting reward for all the hard work our team puts in on a daily basis. This has been without doubt the most challenging few years we have ever faced as a business, and I want to thank our staff for their amazing and continued hard work, determination and dedication
“We take great pride in having the right people with a keen eye for the right product, specialist knowledge across all areas, the determination not to compromise on standards, and a team that constantly strives to be the best.
“We are also very lucky that we have such a strong and loyal customer base, and we are so grateful to be an integral part of the Inverness and Highland community. We listen to our customers so that we continue to deliver the best retail experience we can.
“As a local business, we are also acutely aware of our environmental responsibilities and are always looking at new ways to promote sustainability across the business. To be presented an award for what we’re doing to support this was really positive.”
The garden centre's cafe has recently signed up to the UK Chatty Cafe scheme to help reduce loneliness.
To reduce its carbon footprint, the company said they have taken several actions including introducing plastic recyclable containers for plants in the outdoor area, sourcing 95 per cent of its plant stock from UK growers, stocking products with reduced or no plastic packaging along with using compostable packaging, cups and straws in their award-winning restaurant.
The Highland business recently unveiled it’s a entrance area, which has already seen the space being used for events and activities as well as a space to showcase the largest collection of outdoor furniture in the region.
The team are now looking forward to transforming the canopy area into something special for the festive period.
Andrew Simpson added: “Going forward, we are committed to investing in the business and our team, so that we can continue to deliver an exceptional retail experience for our customers and create new employment opportunities for the local community”.
“We set out to create a business that was rooted in the Highlands and we firmly believe that we have achieved this. We have a bold, exciting vision for Simpsons that we believe will set us apart from other garden centres”.
