Wyevale Garden Centre has announced the sale of five more stores to two separate buyers as it continues to offload its estate.
In May Terra Firma, which owns Wyevale, drafted in property advisors Christie & Co to handle the sales process of its entire 145 garden centre estate and 610 concessions, following a £105.5 million loss in its latest set of published results.
Two centres in Brooks and Nailsworth have been sold an unnamed buyer who will reportedly continue to run them as garden centres.
Another three centres in Aldridge, Keynsham and Shirley have been sold to separate buyers who will repurpose the sites for an alternative use.
“In the case of those centres which have been sold for alternative use, we are very pleased to honour our commitments to our colleagues and partners and will seek to redeploy our excellent colleagues in our other garden centres wherever possible in coming months,” Wyvale’s chief executive Roger Mclaughlan said.
“We would like to thank our great colleagues at these centres, who have been central to our turnaround in the past few years.”
In July another eight stores were sold to Blue Diamond, which said it planned to invest £16 million in remodelling the newly-acquired stores over the next three years to make them more like its Redfields Garden & Living Centre in Hampshire and its Blue Diamond Garden and Home store near Nottingham.
Edinburgh Woollen Mill, the owner of Peacocks and Jane Norman, was also understood to be considering a bid for the embattled retailer before ultimately withdrawing its bid.
A spokesperson told Retail Gazette that EWM’s interest in the retailer was always “soft” and it is understood that its offer came well below the £300 million asking price.
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