Ahead of its official reopening this week, Island Echo visited Ryde’s Busy Bee to see what has changed at the popular garden centre.
Founded in 1987, Busy Bee ran for nearly 40 years under the ownership of Chris and Mary Leslie. The couple, who have now retired, oversaw the business grow into one of the Isle of Wight’s largest and best-known retail destinations for gardening, homeware and gifts.
Since taking over in September, extensive works have been carried out to transform the Brading Road site ahead of its official reopening this Saturday (4th April).
Speaking exclusively to Island Echo, Group Garden Centre Operations Manager at Blue Diamond Michael Stephanou has said:
“We’ve gone massively over budget here, but we’ve spent £1.2million so far here.
“We are all about that customer experience.
Among the changes are the addition of a new food hall, a fashion department and a more customer-focused layout throughout the store.
Extra seating has been added both inside and outside the restaurant, which now bears a bee-themed name, The Hive. It offers hot and cold food, drinks and a wide range of homemade cakes.
Inside the new food hall, several Isle of Wight businesses are featured, including The Garlic Farm, Mermaid Gin, Isle of Wight Tomatoes and – returning to Busy Bee – former Ryde greengrocers Barrow Boys.
Blue Diamond has said that while the site may look different externally, the core of the business remains unchanged.
Cladding has also been fitted to the exterior of the building as part of the wider refurbishment.
Since their arrival, Blue Diamond have appointed 15 new team members across a variety of roles, with it hoped they will recruit a further 5 more in the coming months.
Speaking on the renovations, Michael has said:
“Our Managing Director, along with our property development and design teams, come into each site and, as a group, we look at the space and decide what the layout should be.
“That is exactly what we have done here. We have kept much of what was already in place. As you will have seen, we have added a few walls and created some divisions, but the core remains the same. For example, in houseplants, we have simply expanded the range and depth of products.
“In addition, we have brought in a food department, and then the fruit and veg concession with Barrow Boys who were very keen to return to Busy Bee again.
“Alongside that, you will notice there are now a number of Isle of Wight products included within the food offering.
“Our food team has been working closely with suppliers across the Isle of Wight to identify where we can source ingredients locally, rather than relying on more generic options. We are still looking for some items, such as eggs and local honey, which have been difficult to secure so far.”
Despite being well known for its café and as the home of Susie the cat, Busy Bee is perhaps best recognised for its popular Christmas World attraction.
For around 4-months of the year, between September and December, part of the store is transformed into a festive display that draws visitors from across the Isle of Wight.
Although company boss Alan Roper had previously stated that Christmas World would remain, rumours had circulated suggesting it could be scrapped under Blue Diamond ownership.
However, Island Echo can reveal that there are plans not only to retain Christmas World, but to enhance it.
“We don’t plan to ruin Christmas World like everyone has said. We believe we can bring more value to it.
“If anything, we plan to build on what Busy Bee has already established and make it even better. We are certainly not going to take anything away – we are just aiming to enhance what is already here.
“Well, we are hoping this year – although nothing is confirmed yet – to bring a grotto back. I know they have not had one here since before COVID. We would really like to bring that back for the Isle of Wight and for our customers. We are known for doing Christmas well at Blue Diamond, and we want to build on the Christmas foundations that the previous owners have already created here.”
Busy Bee has remained open throughout the refurbishment, with a grand reopening of the newly transformed store set to take place this Saturday (4th April), featuring prosecco, jazz music and fancy dress.
£1.2 million of ruination 🙁
Great to see the improvements, let’s hope it pays off.
Brave move spending so much in todays economic climate
many customers are skint to spend like they did pre this
Government.
And you can bet it will be even more expensive than it was when previous owners had it,was hilarious at xmas,when families came in their droves and treated it as a day out,utterly ridiculous.
It’s not ridiculous. It’s a free Christmas outing for the kids. Busy Bee go to a lot of trouble to make it look lovely and families clearly enjoy looking at it. I imagine most people bought something. Why be nasty? I suppose you would prefer them to be shut in their rooms, staring at screens.
When visiting the mainland, one of my favourite stops is at Wilton Garden Centre. As they’re also part of the Blue Diamond group I am really hoping to see more of their range of plants and planters becoming available at Busy Bee.