Hillier wins top accolade with Ideal Home Garden Retailer of the Year Award

Leading garden centre chain, Hillier has sealed its place at the forefront of the industry by winning Ideal Home’s Garden Retailer of the Year Award.

The company pipped other top garden retailers to the post, winning due to its brand built around delivering industry-leading expertise and horticultural knowledge, as well as exceptional customer service, top-tier plants, trees and garden accessories.

The awards, organised by the iconic Ideal Home, recognise the best in home and garden sectors. Judged by industry experts and editors, there are awards for Kitchen, Bathroom, Living Room, Bedroom and, new for 2024, Garden – with Hillier leading the way.

Now with 22 garden centres, Hillier grows over one million plants at its Peat-free Hampshire nursery, is the largest grower of semi-mature trees in the UK and Ireland, and has an online shop appealing to gardeners all across the country.

The garden retailer’s winning entry focused on the company’s flourishing story over the last few years, its commitment to sustainability and passionate support and advocacy for the industry. Hillier’s heritage in the gardening world is well documented, with the story beginning 160 years ago – and reaching new heights ever since.

The awards recognised the company’s recent successes with turnover up 32.4% in 2023, the launch of its online shop, the substantial redevelopment of Hillier Garden Centre Newbury and the acquisition of the Rosebourne Garden Centre Group in November 2022, as well as sponsorship of BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, and the incredibly popular free ‘Hillier Gardening Club’ loyalty program which now has over half a million members.

The Ideal Home Garden Award win is yet another exciting moment for Hillier in a year packed full of highlights, as fifth-generation family member George took over as chairman from his father Robert at the beginning of this year.

George Hillier, said: “It’s fantastic to be part of something so special as Ideal Home’s first-ever Garden Awards, and to take home the win in its inaugural year is a real accolade.

“We are constantly striving to reach new heights of customer service and unrivalled products, but to have that recognised by an external source is a great source of pride and testament to the amazing work from the Hillier team and our unwavering commitment to the garden retail industry. We are sure that winning this award will allow us to continue inspiring people to invest time in their green spaces as a part of their homes.

“We’re excited to see the Ideal Home Garden Awards go from strength to strength over the coming years, and we hope to play a part for many years to come.”

To find out more about Hillier’s award-winning service and products, visit www.hillier.co.uk 

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Editors notes

“To inspire the creation of green living spaces for now and the future”

Hillier is one of the leading names in the horticultural industry, with 160 years of growing and retail experience.

Founded in 1864 by Edwin Hillier, the company remains a family-run nursery with the fifth generation now actively involved in the family business as it continues to grow.

Not only is Hillier the largest producer of semi-mature trees in Europe and grower of over one million plants at its Hampshire nursery, but it also employs over 750 staff across its nursery, amenity trees and 22 garden centre divisions and is a flourishing multi-million pound company. It proudly holds the world record for the most consecutive gold medals awards at the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show, with 74 wins.

As one of the leading growers in the UK, Hillier is involved in many peat-free initiatives, including the RHS Peat-Free Fellowship, the largest peat-free collaborative research project globally. The company was amongst the first nurseries to become 100% peat-free across both its production nursery and retail garden centres, and all Hillier plants are grown in peat-free compost.

Recent successes for the company include the launch of its online shop, the substantial redevelopment of Hillier Garden Centre Newbury and the acquisition of the Rosebourne Garden Centre Group in November 2022, as well as sponsorship of BBC Gardeners’ World Live and BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, and the incredibly popular free ‘Hillier Gardening Club’ loyalty program which now has over half a million members.

Renowned for being a leading breeder of plants in the UK at its 100% peat-free nursery in Hampshire, each year Hillier introduces amazing new varieties. Many of these have become essentials in British gardens and the company continues with the tradition of innovation and the introduction of new garden plants in the present day.