All Seasons Garden Center | Services built on attention

A customer recently visited All Seasons Garden Center to replace the old, cracked pots on her front porch. Jan Heitmann, whose parents, Dieter and Georgia, opened All Seasons in 1979, stopped by the customer’s house to snap a few pictures before meeting her at the store. Then she helped pick out pots, plants and accents that perfectly matched her front door and personal tastes.

“I was treated like I was the only one there, when I know they are crazy-busy with graduations,” the customer wrote in a 5-star review for the garden center on Facebook.

That type of attentive service is Georgia Heitmann’s goal.

“We treat every customer like they’re gold,” she says. “We all get busy in the spring or during holidays, but we like to wait on people individually. We always welcome them. Our staff is trained to offer great customer service.”

Most of that training happens on-the-job, and since many of All Seasons’ permanent staff has been on board for a while now, they’ve had plenty of time to see service in action from the Heitmann family. Though the founders are still involved in the business, their daughters Jan Heitmann and Jill Keil now own the business. Jill’s husband, Scott, and their three teenage boys also pitch in.

“We are fortunate to have a good staff,” Georgia says. “Having confidence in them is important.”

But customer service isn’t the only aspect of the company that sets All Seasons apart. Actually, the company offers quite a few services — from custom design planting, to container pickup and delivery, to landscaping and planting, to a tree farm and tree moving, as well as classes and private parties.

“As the market changed, we grew and just kept adding services,” Georgia says. “We try to fulfill the customer’s needs.”

All Seasons even rents community garden plots, located a mile and a half from the garden center. The plots, which are 22 by 40 feet, cost $125 and come with a $50 gift card to All Seasons.

These types of services represent the biggest opportunity for growth at All Seasons. Georgia says these lines of business will “build a bigger market” for their company as the city continues growing toward them.

“We used to be a couple miles out of town, but the city has grown toward us, and now we’re seeing more people come into our store on a day-to-day basis,” she says. “Growth is coming in the front door.”