Outdoor plants and seeds and bulbs sold particularly well during the month with sales up 11.87% and 15.99%, respectively, in comparison to April 2012.
Peter Burks, Chairman of the GCA, explained: “We have had a testing few months with unseasonably cold weather and we were all relieved to see some sunshine in April.
“Because people weren’t able to be out in their gardens before April we saw a huge surge in sales. Gardeners were itching to get out planting.
“Most areas saw good sales during April, garden sundries were up 12.8%, furniture and barbecues up 5.83%, hard landscaping up 22.7% and catering up 6.48%. Overall sales were up 7.62% for the month.”
The GCA BoT reports are compiled using actual sales figures and provide an up-to-date trading position statement.
Peter added: “Although our members had a good month in April they need strong sales to continue to be able to recoup any losses from the past few months. The overall year to date figures, calculated at the end of April, stand at 9.03% down.
“We’ve had a good start to May so we are remaining optimistic.”
