On the move

Dana AltumAltum’s in Zionsville, Ind., has a rich, 50-year history. Its second-generation owner, Dana Altum, will continue this tradition at a brand-new facility, just 4 minutes north of the current store. According to Altum, things are progressing well with the development of their new home.

“We’ve thoroughly completed the ‘conceptualization’ phase and we’re ready to begin the transformation. We’re creating an atmosphere that’s truly unique to the Indianapolis area.”

The new location offers an intimate setting that will allow customers to visualize products in their own yard, Altum said. They plan to be open on Labor Day for fall sales, but “we realize we will be a work in progress during the fall season,” Altum said.

Among the new features they’re looking forward to is a greenhouse with disappearing walls and roll-up doors, offering shoppers a view of the new store’s wooded exterior.

GARDEN CENTER: Are there any dream elements at your new digs?
DANA ALTUM: There are towering, mature trees throughout the new location that provide lush foliage all around customers as they shop. Our old facility was completely blacktop pavement with no trees at all. This is something that we’ve always wanted. Also we always fought the west winds at our old facility. Our new home is positioned so the covered shopping area protects our outside sales area from those strong winds, so it will be a more comfortable shopping.


GC: Are you trying to be careful with inventory levels, knowing the move is around the corner?
DA: Absolutely nothing is changing in how we merchandise or how we monitor our inventory. Our fiscal year has always ended June 30, so we’ve always reduced our inventory by then. We still have sales goals to obtain in the months of June and July, so we’re not pushing any kind of moving sale right now. Until we know our exact move date, everything is business as usual.

What we will do before our move is look for great values from our growers that we can pass along as savings to our customers during July—and fulfill that moving sale everyone is expecting.

We’ll need to maintain our staple items, as well as inventory to operate our landscape services. It will be our goal to not move any products to the next store besides product for landscape installation.


GC: Will your move affect your customer base at all?
DA: Surprisingly, almost every customer comment about our move has had the response, “Oh, good! You are going to be closer to me!” This actually surprised us, but it’s a welcome idea to know that we may be more accessible to our core customer and more new customers.

Our current customer base has been directed to a special website:  www.alwaysgroundbreaking.com, which is our micro-site that keeps them informed about the progress of our move and what is happening regarding Altum’s transition.

Along with counter bag-stuffers, e-mail blasts, and our outreach through local press and our own newsletter, we’re making every attempt to keep our current customer base well informed so they can transition with us without a single hitch.


GC: Tell us about your pot recycling program. How long have you been doing this?
DA: The garden-center industry produces so much plastic that we all should be more active in taking our waste out of the landfills. We continually are filling these semi-trailer containers full of plastic flats and pots from within our own walls, not counting what customers bring back to us. It’s so easy to park one of these “very unattractive” collection trailers in the back that will make a difference to the environment in the long run. Customers really appreciate this service.

GC: Tell us about your in-store consult service, “Snapshot Gardening.”
DA: Snapshot Gardening is in its third year, and we have refined it each year. It has grown year after year through constant promotion as well as tweaking the program. The program has become so successful that we have a landscape designer dedicated to it 75 percent of the time in the spring. The purpose of the Snapshot Consultations is to create a relationship with the DIY customers and equip them with a plan of attack for the area.

GC: Are there any particular gardening problems that your customers continually struggle with?
DA: Diagnostics. Whether it is an issue with a failing plant or a bug chewing on their favorite flower, they continually come to us for a solution. We have great staff that walk them through the problems, and offer solutions for our customers, along with take-home handouts and solid reference guides. Sometimes they just want to know the name of the flower they have carefully snipped to bring in for identification. We usually will hear the entire history of their backyard and how it came to be, starting from their great-grandmother forward—so we just pour them a cup of coffee and listen with an attentive ear. Many times, they just want to share, and know someone is listening and caring about them. We are here for that, too, because we know they will be back!

GC: Tell us about your “Grow and Go” 30-minute workshop series.
DA: The workshops are used primarily as a positioning tool for us to be recognized as the “resource” for our customer. Attendance is always based on three things: the weather, the class topic and timing. Early Saturday morning is a great time to get people in. The title of the class is important. We had a class called “Potatoes in a Trash Can” and it was standing-room only.