Spring 2014 ‘record-breaking’ for some garden centers

Bright, bold containers at Stauffers of Kissel Hill Home & Garden in Rohrestown, Penn.The start of 2014 was rough for many businesses in the Midwest and Northeast, especially independent garden centers, to say the least.

Jere Stauffer, COO of Stauffers of Kissel Hill Home & Garden, says February, March and April were the worst months on record since 2007, when the Pennsylvania company first added its eighth location.

Like many garden centers in the region, Stauffers' staff worked tirelessly to protect the plants from frost and the chilly temperatures that plagued much of April.

But when May hit, things turned around, and they had record-breaking sales. Weekends have been consistently sunny, encouraging gardeners to shop and work in their yards.

“Last year, the months of May, June and July were really soft as both economics and weather played havoc,” Stauffer says. “We’re feeling a lot more confident that the end of this season has a lot more to offer.”

Growers are reporting the same trend as well. Danny Gouge, marketing manager at Willoway Nurseries in Ohio says the season was slow at first, but they exceeded their goals for May.

"We were off like most nurseries this spring to a slow start. Early spring was cool but we had a great May that exceeded our goals. June has also started off great and we are still shipping a lot of plants," Gouge says. "I think that we will have a good year if the weather and traffic keeps going through the month of June. So far June weather has been great and consumers are still out gardening."

Doug Akerley, COO of Hicks Nurseries in Westbury, N.Y., says he went into May "really concerned," but the month also exceeded expectations.

"We looked great. The staff had done a great job and buyers had done a great job [getting the store ready]. But people were not ready to plant," Akerley says. "We were behind where we wanted to be in May, but then we had successive weeks that were record weeks where we experienced volume every day, seven days a week, that was far more than what we had experienced in the past."

Dottie Warner, garden center manager at Frazee Gardens in Brownsburg, Ind., shared a similar sentiment.

“Since spring arrived, it has been crazy. People are so ready for winter to be over,” says Warner. “Last weekend (May 2) was the best sale weekend we have had since opening this location in 2008. So we are excited, and tired, and anticipating the next couple of weeks.”

Regional differences

Flamingo Road Nursery & Farmer's Markets' perennials section. The long, bone-chilling winter that delayed the season for many garden centers had the opposite effect for Flamingo Road Nursery & Farmers Market in Davie, Fla. Manager Erik Dietl-Friedli says that March wasn’t as unbearably hot as it normally is in the South, so their season was extended and sales have been consistently strong.

“When it hits 90 degrees in March, the gardening bug goes out for a lot of people. It’s just too hot to work in the yard,” Dietl-Friedli says. “This year we didn’t hit a day in the 90s until [early June], and our rainy season didn’t hit until this past week as well, so we’ve been blessed with beautiful weather.”

So far, this has been a record-breaking year for Flamingo.

"We opened this location in 2005, and then we had a really big hurricane that fall, which translated into tremendous sales in 2006 because everybody had to replace their yard. This year has been better than that year," he says.

Weather aside, Flamingo also implemented some new merchandising strategies that have boosted sales. For example, Dietl-Friedli says they moved all of the perennials that pollinators love to a section called “Butterfly Garden.”

“Our sales in that category year to date are up a little more than 50 percent,” he says. “We grabbed that whole niche and we ran with it.”

They also expanded other specialty garden items, like orchids and houseplants, to make shopping easier for customers and differentiate themselves from the big box stores, a handful of which are less than a mile away from Flamingo Road Nursery.

The traditional items like perennials, woody plant material and annuals are selling well this year for Hicks Nurseries, says Akerley. Just like Flamingo, after Hurricane Sandy hit in October 2012, everyone came back to the garden center in 2013 to replace and replant their destroyed yards.

"We are up against stiff numbers compared to last year, but this year we are still seeing some response to yard renovations from hurricane damage, but it’s not anywhere near as strong as last year, but the economy is better," he says. And May 2014 sales were even stronger than 2013.

Dietl-Friedli says many garden center owners he’s talked to during the past few months have also said that 2014 has been an incredibly strong, hopeful year. But drought problems have painted a very different picture for some areas in the West, says Jacquie Williams-Courtright, owner of Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, Calif.

Fence posts double as fresh signage at Alden Lane Nursery. “Our season has been tempered by a severe drought. Customers are being mandated to curtail outside irrigation by 50 percent and to water only twice a week,” says Williams-Courtright. “We’re doing a lot of water-wise education and are grateful that our operation is diversified with gift, statuary and dry goods.

“We hope to market to neighboring communities that have more water, key on products that are not water dependent and ramp up our festival activities.”

Prepping for Father’s Day

One of the next large weekends for independent garden centers is Father’s Day. Though the June holiday doesn't compare to consumer spending on Mother's Day and Christmas, sales tend to be strong, according to an article on Retail Customer Experience. 

"According to [National Retail Federation's] 2014 Father’s Day Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average person will spend $113.80 on neckties, tools, electronics and other special gifts for dad, slightly down from $119.84 last year. Total spending for the holiday is expected to reach $12.5 billion."

Alden Lane is planning a festival and other events around the holiday to encourage customers to come to the store.

“For Father’s Day we will host a ‘Black and Blueberry Festival’ and Bonsai Show. We’ll have free fresh berry tasting, berry care and culture education, berry pies for sale and blues music,” Williams-Courtright says. “The bonsai club will show their beautiful trees and have daily styling demonstrations.”

Flamingo Road Nursery is also promoting bonsai, a plant that’s traditionally been a strong Father’s Day gift item for the garden center. They are also hosting a BBQ at the garden center, an event they offer every Saturday and Sunday, but this weekend dads will get drinks on the nursery.

“We’re also offering dads a half-priced delivery deal. We figure we will make it easy on him. He can buy the plants, and we’ll deliver them,” Dietl-Friedli says.

Stauffers is also making shopping easier for fathers this weekend and throwing in free delivery on patio furniture, which is on sale.

“Our emphasis for the weekend is to keep the sales momentum going with focus on instant color with jumbo pots of annuals, pick up and go container gardens, pottery and water gardening,” says Debi Drescher, director of marketing and branding for Stauffers.

They are also hosting an event – the Big Green Egg Fest -- where people will have the opportunity to watch grilling demonstrations with the Big Green Egg and sample tastings.

“This week, we're regrouping and refocusing on product and inventory after another strong June weekend.”

Want to share your thoughts on the 2014 season? Send us an email at msimakis@gie.net. 

--Garden Center Editor Karen Varga contributed to this article

Top photo, Stauffers: Michelle Simakis

Middle photo, Flamingo Road Nursery: Courtesy of Flamingo Road Nursery & Farmers Market

Bottom photo, Alden Lane Nursery: Karen Varga