Mega change for Selmes products

Produce from the Selmes Garden Charitable Trust will still be available to the public thanks to a new agreement with the region’s Mitre 10 Mega.

Recently the Battys Road operation wound up their retail sales to focus on its Trees for Marlborough initiative, but Mitre 10 Mega Blenheim’s David Hawtin said his business had come to an agreement which is set to benefit both parties.

“We got in contact around a month ago to talk about being an exclusive buyer and seller of the bagged products they do, to keep their existing team and buy the mushroom mixes, compost and others because we thought they’d be a great thing to have as a local eco-sourced supplier to sell on to our retail customers.

“They have a substantial-sized nursery, so within that process we offered to buy all of the green goods and retail product to sell down through our channels, while giving them instant cash into the trust.
“In that journey, we’ve taken on one of the team full time to join our mega garden team which is a great thing to be able to give employment, and hopefully the volumes that we can do of selling their bagged product will keep their team together.”

Even for David, the volume of plants and products to move was “a bit daunting” upon first arrival.

“We were thinking, what have we done with only about a third of the new product, but we’ve able to get plants into the overall community with plenty of variety without cannibalizing our own nursery plans.

“It’s giving our uni students home for the holidays a good workout and experience coordinating tasks at the Selmes end, and our customers are seeing a range of new stuff.

“Nurseries have a diminishing considerably, because a lot of them are on bits of land that were close into towns that have been cut up and subdivided into housing, so if it goes well we know other Megas close to us want to take deliveries as well.

Amid the change, Selmes Trustee Mike Wentworth said they were grateful for all of the volunteer time, effort and support, and hoped the support continued throughout the business change.

“We’re delighted to have that ongoing relationship with Mitre 10 Mega particularly in compost and bagged products as we move forward with plans and increased focus for our disabled community.

“Trees for Marlborough is a change, but it’s been an exciting one and we’ve been thrilled by the level of support by industry and businesses to continue the opportunity for training, development and pastoral care of our disabled community,” he added.