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 Whether you’re a grizzled veteran or a newbie in the retail ranks, you know that the notable twins, Trial and Error, tend to work their way into the business mix. Some ideas take flight instantly and make you look very smart; others are relegated to the “lessons learned” file. Either way, you venture—if solely on the notion that gain might follow closely behind. This month, we look at ideas that “were thrown out there”—and then “stuck.” We quizzed retailers around the country and asked them to share things they’ve tried that ultimately made their garden centers better. If you want your garden center to follow suit, you might want to take notes.
Theresa Riley
Rockledge Gardens
Rockledge, Fla.
www.rockledgegardens.com
“I’d like to say that the best business decision I ever made was marrying Kevin! We’ve been married 32 years now and have been involved in the business together since Day 1. I seriously cannot imagine running Rockledge Gardens without him. We each have our own strengths (and weaknesses), and I think together make a pretty good team! But the best business decision that we made together in recent years was to purchase our little Garden Bug car (a VW convertible). We’ve gotten a lot of ‘mileage’ out of this little car as far as advertising, promotion and just excitement in general. It is also the inspiration for our Garden Bug program, our customer loyalty program. We currently have over 4,500 Rockledge Gardens Garden Bugs. We also just ‘gave birth’ to our Little Bugs Club. This is our children’s gardening club that is run by our daughter, Aurelia.”
Jennifer Willingham
Athens Organic Supply
Home & Garden Center
Athens, Texas
www.athensorganicsupply.com
“The best business move we ever made was purchasing the property where our store is now located. We started in an old gas station, and it just wasn’t cute at all. Our owner (my dad) purchased this property from a customer. It was over-grown with brush, and the house had experienced fire damage and was falling apart. My dad spent a year fixing this place up and getting it ready for us to move our store here. It was the best business move we’ve made.”
Kim Gaida
Dundee Nursery & Landscaping
Plymouth and Hutchinson, Minn.
www.dundeenursery.com
“Learn early on that it’s always good to have a contingency plan. Take a lot of notes and keep records. You need to have an option A, B and C in this business. This even boils down to merchandise. Sure, you need to have the latest and greatest. But you also need to have last year’s latest and greatest on hand, too. Because there are always customers who come back in precisely because they want more of what they got the year before.”
Steve Maddox
Rice’s Nursery
North Canton, Ohio
www.ricesnursery.com
“We have definitely noticed an increase in the DIY landscaping. Even with a down economy, people are still investing in their home. Our ‘Snapshot Gardening Program’ has been very successful because of this. I’m noticing that people are coming in during the week to have a ‘Snapshot Garden’ created with the intent of installing it over the weekend. We love working with these people because they are looking to get it done now, and I have the program and plants to help them achieve that goal.”
Philip Schaafsma Sr.
Sid’s Greenhouse
Palos Hills and
Bolingbrook, Ill.
www.sidsgreenhouses.com
“I don’t know if this is the smartest move we ever made, but we felt it was successful last year and will continue this. Saturday is our busiest day, and we run out of parking spaces mid-day, so we came up with an idea to get people to shop earlier. We call it ‘The Early Bird gets the $$.’ Our normal hours are to open at 8 a.m., but during May we open at 7 a.m.; from 7 to 8:30 we have a greeter at the entrance handing out a coupon worth $10 off $25-or-more purchases. It was very successful—the first morning by 8 o’clock we had 60 cars in the lot—at both stores! Some customers came each week and only spent the $25, but the average sale on redeemed coupons was about $60. We change the color and date each week.”
Pam Donzelli
Gale’s Westlake Garden Center
Westlake, Ohio
www.galeswestlake.com
“On the hard-goods side, I would have to say adding our ladies’ clothing and accessories category to our gift shop was the best recent move we’ve made, hands down. The revenue potential here is amazing and will thrive in an appropriate setting. On the plant side, we are capitalizing on the whole edible category. We are known for our selection and quality. Everything from seeds, fertilizers, plants, accessories and books … we’ve got it. These are both fairly simple things for a garden center to implement.”
Ned Wilson
Wilson’s Garden Center
Newark, Ohio
www.gardencenterohio.com
“We find seasonal employees from our blog. They know plants. They know the area. They know the landscape of Wilson’s—enough so that they check in on the blog on a regular basis to find out what’s new. People with that kind of passion about the store easily take ownership in any paid position they assume here. On our blog, we feature a ‘Top Asked Questions’ section that has already anticipated and addressed most of the challenges involved in the interviewing/hiring process.”
Sandi Hillermann
McDonald
Hillermann Nursery & Florist
Washington, Mo.
www.hillermann.com
“This is a tough question. But I feel one of the smartest moves I have ever made was joining the Garden Center Group (www.thegardencentergroup.com) for the expert consultations and the great networking opportunities! The sharing of that group is fantastic.”
Wayne Harrell
The Garden Center
San Antonio, Texas
www.thegardencenter.com
“Drought can be a big problem in our area. To promote water-wise irrigation in the summer we have a ‘conservation corner’ where we merchandise water wands, soaker hoses, tree gators, etc. During some of our hot, dry summers we use it as a sales opportunity, and place the water conservation stuff on sale.”
Kimberly Sevilla
Rose Red & Lavender
Brooklyn, N.Y.
www.roseredandlavender.com
“We do workshops, generally focused on edibles, on Saturday morning at 10. Each workshop lasts about an hour. In our [largely urban] neighborhood we have a lot of beginner gardeners, and the workshops are a great way to explain the basics of gardening. Teaching people what to do with their harvest is a natural fit. It takes advantage of the time before fall planting season and gets people excited about gardening.”
Bonnie Stotts
Beier’s Greenhouse
Grand Rapids, Minn.
www.beiersgreenhouse.com
“The best business move I ever made was starting weekly e-mails through Constant Contact to my customers. This personal touch with customers via social networking was the grandest move I’ve made since buying Beier’s Greenhouse from my mom and dad in 1977. We just built and opened a 27,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art growing facility. We are going and growing faster than ever this spring!”
Edward Knapton
America’s Best Flowers Garden Center
Cottage Grove, Wis.
www.americasbestflowers.com
“The best business move we ever made was putting up a huge sign that reads: “Thank You! May the Lord Jesus Christ give you a safe Journey Home.” Everyone sees it as they leave our humble place. It really separates us from almost every other business. I do not know of any other retail business doing this. It reminds me every time I see it who really is in control.”
Natasha Bieberfeld
County Line Nursery
Harleysville, PA
www.countylinenursery.net
“The best move we ever made was teaching classes at our store. Thanks to Bemis Farms (www.bemisfarmsnursery.com) for that one.”
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