After Brexit

Chris Beytes

The UK did it: They voted to leave the European Union. It was close, and some are now saying they regret voting the way they did. Who knows, maybe it will be reversed, or deemed null and void. But in the meantime, it has left our friends in the UK dealing with a lot of uncertainty and that’s never good for business.

We were curious what retailers in England are thinking right now. So Eve Tigwell, a garden center (centre) consultant over there, did a bit of research. Here’s what she learned:

“The word that’s coming back is ‘devastated.’ There are some very unhappy garden centre owners out there who can see their costs rising in a market where price increases to the consumer will be very difficult.

“You’re undoubtedly aware that Wesfarmers bought Homebase earlier this year; it was thought that they wanted to use it as a stepping stone into the rest of Europe, so they’re probably not very happy either!”

Tammy Woodhouse, who, with her husband and mom, runs Millbrook Garden Centre, with three locations south and east of London, agrees.

“We, too, are devastated and very concerned about what has happened,” Tammy wrote. “Above all, we are sad that this seems to have been driven by intolerance and the fear of immigration. It now also appears that even the politicians that backed Brexit are back-tracking.

“In terms of the business, we are very concerned that the decision will drive us back into recession and make people think twice about spending. We have already had one customer say that he was going to buy a new set of furniture but thinks he will now hold off, as he is concerned about the economy. In addition, we have already seen price increases on house plants we buy from Europe as the pound weakens, and we are worried about this in the longer term, as we buy a lot from Europe.

“Today we have cut our wage budgets for the rest of the year and tasked our managers with making these savings, and halved the pay increase that we had agreed before Brexit. I’m sure many other businesses are busy doing the same.

“Who knows where this is going to end up. It’s scary that in a week a reasonably stable country can descend into chaos and uncertainty.”

Tammy closed by saying that she’s ashamed to be British right now, but there’s lots of turmoil in the world right now, the U.S. included, and we will see plenty of interesting things taking place. But people rise to the occasion … and they’ll always want our product. GT