A family-owned garden centre in Dungog has been named the best retail nursery in NSW and the ACT.
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Country Elegance Gardens and Gifts took out the Retailer of the Year Award (turnover $0-$1.5m) at the Nursery & Garden Industry, NSW & ACT (NGINA) Annual Awards over the weekend.
Owners Janice and Stephen Bonamy designed and established the Garden Centre on its beautifully landscaped grounds in Hooke Street in 1999.
“I was a little shocked to be honest,” said Mrs Bonamy about the award.
“We entered the competition to compare our Garden Centre to the excellent industry standards that exist within the state and to keep ourselves accountable, but it turns out we are the nursery this year that is setting the standard,” she said.
Stephen and Janice paid tribute to their “respected, trained, caring and well informed staff”.
“Our local staff, Patrick, Paul, Denise, Emily, Denise, Erika and James work very hard at what they do and we couldn't have achieved this without them,” said Mrs Bonamy.
“This achievement is a tribute to what a great little town Dungog is...now with an award winning Garden Centre.”
Mrs Bonamy said she is passionate about restoring the town to the tourism centre that it once was.
“This is a fantastic achievement for a Garden Centre in a small town with a population of 3500,” she said.
“We hope that the award generates lots of interest across the country and we get a heap of visitors to our region coming to check us out.”
“The vision is to make Country Elegance “the place to go”, where customers enjoy an experience and keep coming back.”
Mrs Bonamy is well known for her involvement in the Dungog District Chamber of Commerce, mentoring and assisting other local businesses develop their business and marketing strategies and is regularly offering opportunities to other businesses for cross promotion and advertising opportunities.
Mrs Bonamy is also a member of the newly-appointed Dungog tourism board and supports local events and activities in the community such as her involvement in and sponsorship of the recent Dungog Festival.
The NGINA is the peak representative body for the Nursery & Garden Industry in NSW & ACT and consists of members from many sectors of the industry.
