A man who started selling plants from his Chippenham home is set to open his own shop at the end of the month.
William Hogger founded Gardening 4 U in 2022 after completing a horticultural diploma and hosting popular weekend sales, with 150 people attending the first one at his home.
With his business going from strength to strength and William selling plants at pop-up shops and country shows, he is now preparing to open a shop at Bumpers Farm Enterprise Centre on September 30, with a launch evening from 5pm until 8pm.
William said: “This new site is a plant emporium, it’s a boutique where people will get a different experience to what they would in a garden centre. We offer them a complimentary coffee and one to one treatment, because we understand buying a new plant can be an emotional attachment and it’s a high value purchase. We want to reflect that with the service that we offer.
“We have a dedicated team of horticultural experts offering a personal and exclusive service, we charge 30 per cent off RRP and everything apart from house plants are British grown.
“We bought the shop around three months ago and we’ve been in the process of doing the renovations and getting it ready since. We’ll be housing house plants, bedding plants, perennials and shrubs, as well as house plant pots and there will be exclusive offers at the launch event.
“We were selling them from home and the weekend plant sales were such a success that we needed to expand to a shop - it’s gone a bit mad. The first time I sold plants from home I did nearly £1,000 in three hours, people were turning up in their cars and buying it all.
“I was thinking to myself ‘this could be the start of a successful business.’ It showed there was a gap in the market. Chippenham needs another plant retailer because there isn’t much choice, particularly if you want bespoke products and things that are a bit more unusual at a decent price.
“People are big on their gardens in Wiltshire. It’s an exciting time for the business and no matter the season we will have stock available.
“This is the first of three shops to open in Chippenham, we want to have a smaller express shop for house plants in central Chippenham later down the line”, William added.
Evolve by Gardening 4 U will be open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 6pm.
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