Hillmount Garden Centre has announced that it is expanding early this year, adding a fifth premises to its portfolio with a £1.5m investment and the creation of 10 jobs.
Hillmount Carrick will join four other garden centres which are already owned and operated by the Mercer family in Ards, Bangor, Castlereagh and Cheshire.
The Mercer family is taking over the existing site of Sunnybank Garden Centre, which has been run by the local Hardy family since 1966.
The family – Roberta, Lorraine and Robert – announced their retirement at the end of 2024, adding: “We would like to thank our customers for all the loyalty and support you have given us over the last 58 years.
“You have made this garden centre what it is today. We hope you will support the Mercer family when they take over as Hillmount Carrick in 2025.”
The new business will include a 60-seater café and extended plant area.
Robin Mercer BEM, owner of Hillmount Garden Centre
Robin Mercer, managing director of Hillmount, said: “We are really looking forward to bringing the Hillmount garden lifestyle brand to Carrick.
“Our family has been serving the local community in East Belfast since 1940 and more recently in Ards, Bangor and Cheshire. This latest opportunity to open in Mid and East Antrim marks an exciting new chapter in the ambitious longer term expansion plans for our family business.
“The addition of a new Gardener’s Rest Café will offer visitors to Hillmount Carrick with a relaxing space to enjoy a coffee after exploring the newly extended plant area.
“Opening Hillmount Carrick is testament to the hard work and vision of our family over four generations. We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved. It also reflects our continued commitment to excellence and dedication in serving gardening enthusiasts across Northern Ireland and beyond.”
It is anticipated that Hillmount Carrick will be open and ready to welcome customers old and new by spring 2025.
Robin added: “We would like to put on record our thanks to the Hardy family who have made the transition of their much loved garden centre as seamless as possible. We wish them well in their retirement.”
Hillmount was set up by Robin’s grandfather in 1940 and has branches in Castlereagh outside Belfast, Bangor and Newtownards, and in Cheshire.
Robin has been running Hillmount for decades, and was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to business and to the economy in Northern Ireland in 2024.