Island Life Magazine Ltd November/December 2005 | Page 24

GARDENING

Christmas
like you
have never
seen!
Busy Bee garden centre, have extended their
premises in order to house the largest display of
Christmas decorations the Island has ever seen
under one roof. It’s spectactular...

Busy Bee Garden Centre
Opposite Tesco Roundabout, Ryde.

Chris Leslie owner of Busy Bee Garden Centre hit on the idea of
selling Christmas decorations around 13 years ago, as a way of
boosting trade over the winter months, which tended to be
quieter for the garden centre side.
Initially, Chris turned a small corner of his premises into a
Christmas Wonderland, and so successful was this feature that
the display has increased in volume each year.
Now its fame has spread not just across the Island, but onto the
mainland too - in fact, it’s arguably the largest display on the
south-coast, attracting visitors to the Island just to witness this
Christmas extravaganza.
According to Chris, it takes love to create the displays, along
with a certain imaginitive flair and talent. As he says, a hardnosed businessman could not achieve what the people at Busy
Bee have done.
“We start putting the display together in October and it is
normally finished in the first week of November. It’s good
because I can keep all my staff on throughout the year, and each

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