Corby & Fellas Ltd. are delighted to announce that Perrywood Garden Centres, based in Tiptree and Sudbury, Essex, have chosen WinRetail as their EPoS and Retail Management system.

Perrywood is an independent, family-owned garden centre and nursery run by the Bourne Family in Essex; Their every day mission is to offer a memorable garden centre experience; delivering wow customer service and giving employees, customers, suppliers and our local community a reason to smile.

Their large covered areas allow you to visit whatever the weather, and you can enjoy a home cooked meal or cream tea in their light, bright modern coffee shop & restaurant. Their Tiptree site is surrounded by beautiful countryside, backing onto woodland and views over the Kelvedon valley.

Pictured: Alan McCammon, Corby + Fellas MD, & Simon Bourne, Perrywood Retail Director

In honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Corby+Fellas offices will be closed on Monday 19th September for her state funeral.

However, we will still be offering support to our customers for online services.

We will be open as normal on Tuesday 20th September.

Congratulations to not one, not two but three of the Corby + Fellas team, who have all welcomed baby boys this summer! Wishing them and their families health and happiness.

Corby + Fellas are delighted to announce that we have implemented our acclaimed WinRetail Stock Control, Retail Management and Hospitality systems at the prestigious Keelham Farm Shop, in Skipton, North Yorkshire.

Pictured from left to right, Kathy Nelson, Keelham Head of Finance, Matt Chrisostomou, Corby + Fellas Head of Technical Support, Grant Davis, Corby + Fellas Head of Retail Operations and Paul Tidswell, Keelham Farm Shop Managing Director.

Hollybush undertook an extensive review of systems in the market, deciding on Corby + Fellas as the perfect partner to match their current and future needs.

Established in 1982 Hollybush is a family-owned garden centre occupying a 20-acre site with a vast undercover area including a café, licensed restaurant, and shopping village.

They also have large pet and aquatic centres, indoor and outdoor led shopping areas, a yard full of landscaping materials, play area and fishing ponds.

The first phase of the implementation has gone incredibly smoothly and during the summer months Hollybush will be utilising the e-commerce and delivery scheduling modules, as well as the CRM and Loyalty APPS…..testimonials will follow in due course.

Pictured – Jay Turner, C+F and Mitchell Jordan, Hollybush GC.

Merry Christmas from Alan, Chris, George and all at Corby + Fellas

This year we have decided that, rather than sending out lots of Christmas cards, we would give a donation to Young Lives Vs Cancer and MIND charity, these charities are both particularly close to our hearts.

This past year has thrown challenges to all of us, and we would like to thank all our customers and associates for their loyalty and ability to adapt and grow with us.

We wish you all a very Happy & Peaceful Christmas, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. 

Fron Goch, which is one of the leading garden centres in North Wales, implemented WinRetail in September 2021, and are now beginning to benefit from the wealth of information that they can glean from the system and the level of control that it gives them.

Fron Goch, who had no previous experience of using EPoS or Retail Management Control software were, not unnaturally, cautious when it came to introducing WinRetail into their business. Fortunately, C&F was able to bring their knowledge of dealing with garden centres who had no legacy systems in place, such as Hillier Nurseries and Klondyke & Strikes Garden Centres.

Fortunately for us Fron Goch’s management and staff approached the task of setting up and implementing the new system with great enthusiasm and with an open mind.

Fron Goch have found that one of the benefits of having had no previous system in place is that there was no requirement to convert data from an existing system to the new one, which can sometimes be a challenging and complex process. However, having never run a system presents its own challenges, in that there is no past experience to draw upon.   

Corby + Fellas are both excited and delighted to be working with Fron Goch, and hope that they will benefit from using WinRetail for many years to come.

Pictured: Emma Boulton- Customer Service Manager, Kati Taylor- Head of Retail and Marketing, Paul Sewell- Business Systems Manager, Melanie Williams- Director, Justin Williams- Managing Director

APPy Shopping and exclusive Rewards – just a few of our new APPS built for our customers – benefits include a virtual card that can be used online or in-store, individual campaign coupons, notifications, store purchases and receipts, surprises and birthday 🥳 offers, review the latest news and exclusive offers from your favourite retailers #corbyfellas #innovators #APPS #getintouch

Simpsons choose WinRetail from Corby & Fellas.  Colin Harrison of Simpsons Garden Centres explains why.

“Simpsons Garden Centre Inverness was established more than 20 years ago, and is located in sight of the spectacular Moray Firth.

“During 2020 we acquired Happy Plant Garden Centre, based some 100 miles away, in Mintlaw in Aberdeen-shire. Happy Plant is one of the largest garden and gift centres in north east Scotland, and is a 4 Star Scottish Tourist Board Garden Centre.

“As a result of the expansion we decided that we should replace our existing, single-site, EPoS and Retail Management Control system with something more advanced and sophisticated, capable of handling multi-site locations.

“We carefully researched the market for suitable systems, paying particular attention to the experiences and opinions of garden centres who had gone through the decision process that we were about to embark on. This led us to speak to several centres who were experienced users of EPoS and retail software. Some of those that we contacted had chosen to install Corby & Fellas WinRetail package; this included The Old Railway Line GC, who were happy C&F users, praising them for both their technical ability and for the quality of their support.

“After careful consideration, we chose WinRetail, and decided to start the installation process in March 2021. Given the constraints caused by the pandemic, this wasn’t the ideal time to switch systems, but nevertheless we decided that we needed to ‘press on  regardless’.

“The data conversion, staff training and installation processes all had to be carried out remotely, as C&F could not attend on site. All the necessary hardware was shipped to us in Inverness from where we orchestrated the physical installation of the equipment. C&F then carried the loading of data and installation of software by remote  on-line connection.

“The training – which was excellent – was carried out using Microsoft Teams, which allowed us both to interact very effectively. Although not as good as face-to-face training, it was a great substitute, and got the job done. In addition, C&F undertook the process of migrating the data from our old system to WinRetail. This also went very well, with all data being converted without loss or corruption.

“All in all, I am very impressed with Corby & Fellas, whose good reputation seems to me to have been well earned. They have produced an excellent package in WinRetail, which is thoughtfully designed, comprehensive, robust and reliable. I’m also pleased to say that this is backed up by a first-class on-line and telephone support service.

“I am happy to be able to recommend Corby & Fellas and their WinRetail package to you.”

Colin Harrison

Simpsons Garden Centre

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Tates of Sussex Garden Centre Group, which has four garden centres in the county, has switched to WinRetail from Corby & Fellas. Tate’s director Darren Clift explains how the system is proving to be a success for the group.

In 2020 we decided to review our EPoS and Retail Management systems, as we felt that we needed to take better control of our business and improve efficiency. 

Although we were not unhappy with the system that we’d been using for more than 20 years, we decided to ‘review the situation’, and look at what systems were available specifically for garden centres.

Several vendors drew our attention, all of whom offered software with features that we felt would be useful to us; this included Corby & Fellas’ WinRetail system, which we knew was used by several prominent garden centres.

Our decision making process was influenced by several factors. Of course, system functionality was key amongst these, but we also wanted to ensure that:

• The vendor was a well-established and stable company, with a track record of providing retail systems to garden centres. Ideally, multi-site businesses of a similar size to us. 
• The system would be well supported and that help would always be available as and when we needed it.
• The software was comprehensive and included the features that we felt that we required (and possibly features that we were yet to realise that we needed).
• The system would grow and develop over time, reflecting the ever changing needs of our business 
• The software was demonstrably robust, reliable and stable.
• The system was fully integrated and did not consist of a mishmash of disparate modules whose interoperability could not always be relied upon.
• Last, and by no means least, was run by people that we could get on with; who were able to understand our business culture and interpret our ideas.

I’m pleased to say that Corby & Fellas was able to meet our requirements and was able provide us with a system that included:

• Fully integrated ecommerce web site.
• A powerful Business Intelligence (BI)module.
• Customer facing Apps running on smart devices.
• A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) module.
• A café/restaurant module.  

We began the process of switching systems in February 2021, and I’m pleased to say that the transition to WinRetail was very straightforward.

I’m pleased that we made the decision to install WinRetail, and feel that it was a good decision. I am particularly impressed with Corby & Fellas ability to tailor their software to meet some of the needs that are peculiar to our business.

I am very happy to recommend Corby & Fellas and WinRetail to you.