Mitre 10 Named New Zealand’s Favourite Garden Centre

We Kiwis love to get stuck into our yards. Whether that’s maintaining a nice even lawn for a game of backyard cricket, a jungle of native flora, or a veggie patch to cut those rising supermarket costs. But whatever the garden, the right tools, plants, and supplies are essential for keeping it in tip-top condition.

And that’s where a great garden centre comes in. Almost half of Kiwis in Canstar Blue’s latest awards survey say they draw inspiration from visiting garden centres. And over a third (34%) say they rely on the advice of knowledgeable garden centre staff. But  our survey found that Value for Money and Range of Products are also of vital importance for garden centre customers.

So, across NZ, which garden centre chain ticks all those boxes? Well, as part of our mission to find the best value for Kiwi consumers, we decided to find out …

Mitre 10: New Zealand’s favourite garden centre

For our inaugural award, to find out which garden centre is the nation’s favourite, we surveyed 1569 people who had visited and made a purchase from a garden centre over the past 12 months. We asked them to evaluate their experiences across the following categories:

• Overall Satisfaction
• Value for Money
• Service and Advice
• Range of Brands
• Range of Products

And, according to Kiwis, Mitre 10 is the way to go, and the winner of our first Most Satisfied Customers | Garden Centres Award.

Mitre 10 may be a home improvement store first and foremost, but its garden centres are some of the biggest, most well-stocked in the country. And as a result, it takes out this year’s award. Mitre 10 earns excellent scores in our survey, boasting a near-perfect sweep of 5-Star results. It earns 5 Stars in all categories, bar a strong 4 Stars for Value for Money.

New Zealand’s favourite garden centres

Here are New Zealand’s favourite garden centres, based on our survey results:

1. Mitre 10
2. Kings Plant Barn
3. Oderings Garden Centre
4. Bunnings
5. Palmers

Mitre 10 may be our award winner, but our survey shows keen Kiwi gardeners are happy with their options. Kings Plant Barn, Oderings Garden Centre, and Bunnings all earn excellent 4-Star results for Overall Satisfaction, including a host of 5-Star ratings. Palmers earns a respectable 3 Stars for Overall Satisfaction.

Top Providers: Garden Centres

Mitre 10

Mitre 10 has been a part of New Zealand’s home improvement culture since 1974. It’s New Zealand owned and operated with stores across the country. Today, Mitre 10 is New Zealand’s largest home improvement and garden retailer, and the iconic orange buildings can be found in most towns and cities.

As the winner of Canstar Blue’s current award for Most Satisfied Customers | Home Improvement Stores, Mitre 10 now adds our award for Most Satisfied Customers | Garden Centres to its list of accolades.

In this year’s award, Mitre 10 scores top 5-Star ratings for Overall Satisfaction, Service and Advice, Range of Brands and Range of Products.

Kings Plant Barn

Kings Plant Barn opened its doors in 1992, the passion project of a garden-loving family. In the 30 years since, the big yellow barns have grown to be one of the most recognisable stores across Auckland. It operates eight locations across Tāmaki Makaurau, with a ninth in the works.

In this year’s survey, Kings Plant Barn scores an excellent 4-Star Overall Satisfaction rating. This is down to two standout 5-Star results, for Service and Advice and Range of Brands. Plus it earns an excellent 4-Star rating for Range of Products.

Oderings Garden Centres

Boasting a family history spanning 91 years, Oderings Garden Centres have become an integral part of New Zealand’s burgeoning landscape-design environment. Oderings operates eight stores nationwide, with five stores in Christchurch, and three in the North Island.

In this year’s survey, Oderings earns a fantastic 4-Star Overall Satisfaction rating, and a standout 5-Star rating for Service and Advice. It earns 3 Stars in all other categories measured.

Bunnings

Australian-owned Bunnings is one of the largest home improvement stores in New Zealand. And like our award winner, Mitre 10, Bunnings has a garden centre at most of its locations.

In our inaugural Most Satisfied Customers | Garden Centres Award ratings, Bunnings score highly. It’s the only centre to earn 5-Stars for Value for Money, and has two excellent 4-Star results, for Range of Brands and Range of Products. In total, Bunnings earns 4-Stars for Overall Satisfaction.

Palmers

Palmers began as a nursery way back in 1912, before entering the garden retail market in 1958. Still proudly Kiwi to this day, Palmers operates 12 locations across the North Island.

Palmers scores a respectable 3 Stars for Overall Satisfaction and Value for Money, with 4-Star results in all other categories.

For the Full Results of our Garden Centre Award Click Here

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Content Producer, Andrew Broadley. Andrew is an experienced writer with a wide range of industry experience. Starting out, he cut his teeth working as a writer for print and online magazines, and he has worked in both journalism and editorial roles. His content has covered lifestyle and culture, marketing and, more recently, finance for Canstar.