Fashion and homewares retailer Matalan is going head on with B&Q and Homebase with a launch into the home improvement market. 

The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) has won the Commercial Initiative of the Year accolade in the TAF Best Practice Awards for its Innovation Zone at the Totally DIY Exhibition, supporting new product development. 

Representatives from across the garden retail industry came together for the GIMA Awards at the Celtic Manor resort last night, with winners crowned in 16 categories. 

The latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor revealed that UK retail sales in June showed the strongest growth since January 2014, with furniture and outdoor ranges seeing a boost. 

Travis Perkins plc has been named as an official partner of the event, along with a number of other major brands. 

Sunny days in June delivered great results for outdoor plant sales - up 15.4% over the same time last year. 

Former B&Q boss Martyn Phillips has been named as Welsh Rugby Union's (WRU) new chief executive. 

The British Coatings Federation (BCF) was awarded the Corporate Social Responsibility Award at the 2015 Trade Association Forum Excellence Awards (TAF) in London on July 9. 

The garden products market increased by around 8% last year to £5bn and is poised for further steady growth up until 2019. 

A DIY chain has paid out £200,000 in damages after three Legionnaires' Disease fatalities caused by one of its stores' hot tubs. 

A Wiltshire garden centre has set out plans to triple in size and double its number of employees to over 300. 

Mouldable glue Sugru has smashed two equity crowd-funding records, achieving the largest single investment of £1m and having the widest reach, with stakeholders in 68 countries. 

Neil Grant of Ferndale Garden Centre and Graham Spencer of Plants for Europe are the latest speakers to join the line-up for a free Horticultural Trades Association (HTA)/Ball Colegrave workshop event. 

Unveiling his Budget today, Chancellor George Osborne delivered what could turn out to be a damaging blow to independent retailers. 

Fairways Garden Centre is adding to its existing two outlets by building a third just outside Coventry, at Brandon, on a 26-acre site. 

Wyevale Garden Centres (WGC) said 2014 had been a "transformational" year, as it released annual figures showing growth in both sales and profits. 

Security specialist Abus has been named Most Innovative Brand of the Year at Germany's Plus X Award - the highest accolade the award jury can give. 

The Totally DIY:Totally Tools organiser Brintex is reporting strong support for the new format and timing of the event taking place next year. 

Regulatory authorities in Germany have approved the newest addition to the Roundup weedkiller brand - Roundup Gel. 

Greenfingers is calling for any remaining monies raised from Garden Re-Leaf Day in March to be sent in to allow the final tally of this year's activities to be calculated.