The Australian Garden Centre Accreditation Scheme (AGCAS) is a national, industry managed scheme designed to raise the overall standards of garden centre retailing in Australia.
The scheme addresses four main areas of garden centre operations.
- The quality of the product on offer
- The experience and knowledge of the staff
- The quality of the centre’s premises
- The scope and nature of the centre’s promotional activities.
While AGCAS is a national scheme, it is administered at a local level by the Nursery & Garden Industry Victoria in this state. Our Deputy CEO, Alan Hollensen and Industry Development Officer Anthony Curnow are the key AGCAS representatives. They work closely with the management team of the garden centre to ensure smooth progress through the requirements of the Accreditation process.
Assessment consists of an Internal and External Review of the garden centre. The Internal Review is conducted by the owner/manager of the business. The results are then matched against those of the External Review, which is conducted by Anthony. This ensures that the assessment is fair and impartial. The External Review remains the critical assessment tool used to establish suitability for acceptance into the scheme.
The common attributes shared by all garden centres that have achieved Accreditation is an ongoing commitment to ‘Setting the Standards’ for excellence in garden centre retailing, while retaining their individual and unique appeal.
To learn more about the accreditation process, please do not hesitate to contact Alan Hollensen or Anthony Curnow via email or on (03) 9576 0599.
Victorias Quality Accredited Garden Centres can be found by clicking here.