A look back at Glee 2025 – leading garden trade show
The CSY team are back from Glee 2025 and already feeling nostalgic! What a fantastic few days – the event was a huge success and we’re so grateful to have been able to participate.
We had some great conversations about the challenges garden centres are facing right now – from rising costs to changing customer expectations – and how a more connected EPOS system could help tackle these pressures.
We were thrilled to see that you all loved our interactive flower wall as much as we did – it was a fun and simple way to engage with visitors to the stand. Everyone who stopped by picked a flower to reveal their CSY merch prize (notebooks, coasters with bottle openers, or travel mugs). While our visitors walked away with merch, we walked away with amazing industry insights and genuine connections. Nothing quite compares to those face-to-face conversations and the relationships built in person.
The energy throughout was infectious! Matthew Mein, Glee Event Director, commented: “The atmosphere at this year’s event has been electric, with exhibitors, buyers, and visitors alike praising the showcase as one of the best in recent years. We are delighted to celebrate the winners and shortlisted entries, and we look forward to seeing how these products will flourish in the market in the coming season.”
It really was one of those events where everything just clicked. Great people, great conversations, and plenty of inspiration to take back with us.
Standout seminars at Glee 2025
Across the two days there were some amazing seminars and panels going on. Some of the ones that stood out to us were:
How to Grow a Future-Ready Garden Centre
This seminar was hosted by Aaron Rudman-Hawkins, Founder & Managing Director of The Evergreen Agency. Rudman-Hawkins drew from over a decade of experience in growing home, garden and lifestyle brands to decode the essential elements of modern garden centre marketing. He emphasised that the digital landscape was evolving rapidly, warning that garden centres failing to keep up risked being left behind in an increasingly competitive market.
The key message was clear: thriving garden centres needed to adopt integrated digital strategies that positioned them for sustained long-term success, rather than relying on fragmented, ad-hoc approaches.
Restaurant & Retail: The Perfect Companions
This expert-led panel session explored how the most successful garden centres view food and retail not as separate entities, but as symbiotic partners that enhance each other’s performance.
The panellists explained that when done properly, a restaurant becomes a strategic asset that turns casual browsers into loyal customers and enables you to transform the wider shopping experience. The discussion featured real-world experiences from successful garden centre operators, alongside expert guidance from the expert panelists, demonstrating how strategic food offerings can fundamentally reshape a garden centre’s entire business model.
Our Glee takeaway
Being at Glee to hear these insights in person and discuss them with industry leaders made all the difference. Listening to Aaron Rudman-Hawkins break down digital strategies and hearing insights from Stewarts Garden Centres, St Peters Garden Centre, and The Full Range Ltd on the Restaurant & Retail panel sparked ideas that simply don’t come through reading articles. The face-to-face conversations brought these concepts to life in ways that matter for day-to-day operations.
What became clear throughout the event is that garden centres are facing real challenges – from rising costs and tighter margins to changing customer expectations and increased competition. These sessions highlighted exactly why CSY exists – to provide the technology that can help manage these challenges and make the strategies discussed possible. With its specialist design, CSY’s EPOS gives garden centres the tools they need to capture customer data and track performance across online, in-store and dining, helping garden centres turn these insights into growth.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by our stand – it was lovely meeting you all.
We can’t wait for next year, see you all there!
Want to find out how CSY could help your garden centre to face its challenges head on? Get in touch with our team today!