Poplar Tree Garden Centre Online

We pondered what to enter into our first review. We thought long and hard and decided that an entry of a local retailer, close to home but selling nationwide would be a great start. We set off googling online retailers in the North East and came accross Poplar Tree Garden Centre. For this review we thought we would base our findings on both our instore experience and online purchases.

We noticed that Poplar Tree Garden Centres website was full of products. When we say full, we mean full. There must be thousands of items on there. Mostly products related to gardening such as shovels, hedge trimmers and seeds. Looking a little deeper intot eh website indicated that they had diversified their range into furniture, both indoor and outdoor. It seemed a good selection. The prices were very competitive when checked against other etailers on comparison websites. Poplar Tree Garden Centre came just about cheapest on every product we tested, except certain childrens toys, which we didnt even expect them to sell so we presume that they werent able to bulk buy these items to be able to compete with toy store prices. They were still very affordable though and we liked the way they were related to gardening.

What did we decide to buy. Well we chose two products totalling over £50. The reason for this was that Poplar Tree advertise that online purchases over £50 are delivered nationwide for free. Even though we were local, we thought we would test it out. We quickly added a hand painted Martini Glass to our shopping basket and then chose a lopper. I needed my trees lopping so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. The online checkout was smooth and fast and we had paid and recieved email confirmation from Poplar Tree within seconds. Impressive so far.

Online checkout complete, we jumped in the car and headed for Poplar Tree Garden Centre located in Durham City. It was a little difficult to find, near Maiden Castle Sports Centre in Shincliffe Village but the sat Nav took us straight to the main entrance. The carpark is huge. Easily capable of holding 150 cars, with an overspill also in use on the day we arrived. We were taken back as to how full the carpark was. There were at least 80 cars there and it was only 10:30am. After a short walk to the shop entrance we had a browse around the gift section first. They stock quite a unique range of gifts. Very well presented and I quickly spotted my Hand painted Martini Glass that I had purchased online. It was the same price instore. Some stores discount online items over instore but on the other hand, some dont. They also sold items such as framed coin collections, marble and glass ornaments, beautiful handbags, outdoor clothing and wooden handcrafted toys and living room furniture.

Moving through the sections of the store, we were suprised at how big Poplar Tree Garden Centre is. After talking to a member of staff about how things were going, it sounded like the owners were spending lots of money extending the store and refurbishing many sections of it. Inside was mainly stocked with gardening products such as grass seed, gardening tools, patio furniture, artificial hanging baskets. We also noticed that Poplar Tree have a Florist business seperate to the garden centre but operating inside. They have a huge selection of fresh flowers and specialise in weddings. They also sell Interflora arrangements nationwide and I grabbed details of the website to check out later. Its here if you want to check it out. They also have a seperate Wedding and events website especially for locals who are looking for a florist near Durham. You can see it here. Its quite impressive.

We took a right and headed outside where there were products as far as the eye could see. Everything from plant pots to plants and trees. It looks like Poplar Tree sell it all. It started to get very busy so we decided to head for the coffee shop for a tea and scone. They call it Brambles. Im not sure why. It is located in a wooden pavillion style building and when we got inside, we were pleasently suprised. It was flawlessly clean and had a wonderful mixture of people. The only problem was, we couldnt get a seat. Not to worry said a member of staff as she tapped me on the shoulder, you can sit outside. We ordered a sandwich instead of a scone and it was delicious. We sat in the mid day sun for a while, taking notes and discussing our experience. For a first review, we couldnt have asked for anything better. Full of people and friendly staff, Poplar Tree Garden Centre Durham was heading for a great review. It was a thumbs up from us.

Check out Poplar Trees website for yourself and see what you think.

Positives: Wide selection of goods and very helpful staff. Online purchase was easy and fast and came the very next day. Delivered to our work address as promised.

Negatives: Can get very busy in summer but Poplar Tree Garden Centre is big enough to cope.