Weathering the storm in the Midwest

Q. What storms have you had to weather over the past 40 years that you’ve been at Hillermann?

A. We’ve dealt with flooding and hurdles year to year; the latest flooding was May of 2000. But those storms seem simple compared to what we’re having to deal with in today’s society. The economy has been very tough in our Midwest region, but what’s been tougher yet is the weather that we’ve experienced.

We’re in a severe drought situation, and being in the Midwest, we have to have the largest temperature swings. We had well over a week of 108 degrees F last summer, so we can get up to a 108-109 degrees F but we can also dip below 0. So I think we’ve got one of the largest swings of temperatures from lowest to highest than other parts of the country ,which makes it tougher as well. It’s a combination of Mother Nature and the economy that we’re struggling with now.

We moved to a new location, in fall of 2000, with anticipated growth in the area. We moved from a 2.5-acre location to a 15-acre location. [The anticipated growth] has not happened, so right now my location is almost too big for me. We’re doing what we can, and so far we’ve been holding our own, but it’s getting very tough.

Q. What measures are you taking to successfully maneuver through tough times?

A. We’re streamlining absolutely everything we can. We’ve got more part time people on than we do full time to cut benefits. We haven’t cut marketing; we’ve embraced it.

We do a little more direct mail because of our demographics. Being in the country and trying to hit the western county of St. Louis and even a 50 mile radius, it’s hard to find a single source of radio or newspaper that will hit all those areas.

We’ve got a loyalty program that’s very strong, and do direct mail to those people. We also do a weekly email blast and try to stay focused on our Facebook page as well. Those things do seem to be working for us.

We’ve kind of toned down Christmas. We used to be a full-fledged trim and tree shop, where we now cannot compete with selling the lights or the trees or the ornaments. Because we do have a flower shop, we’re more into botanicals, ribbons, plants, greenery and trees. Our Christmas numbers are up over last year, which I’m very excited about. That to me is a good thing as well.

Q. How are you satisfying customers who want to shop online?

A. We are just releasing the HillermannOnline.com website, which is the hard good items, the majority of which are not stocked in my store.

We are a member of the Home and Garden Showplace through True Value and we also have a close relationship with a birding supplier. So those two companies are working with us on being able to offer online product sales, ship directly from their businesses to the customer side, and I don’t have to handle it. That’s a brand new venture for me that we really hope to get strong, but we’ve just introduced it.

We are also a member of Teleflora, the national florist website. [We have a site that’s] actually a link into their website that they have set up for us. It’s a way for people to order anything that’s offered through Teleflora through us. With people spending so much time on the internet these days and doing online shopping, that floral website has helped us tremendously in that area.

Q. What else are you doing now to prepare the garden center and the rest of the business for spring?

A. Ordering has been looked at very closely. We have cut back on what we’ve got coming in, and aren’t ordering as heavy for spring. We’re working harder on better turns and lower inventory. So the buyers have got the majority of that stuff all lined up. Instead of growing all of those thousands of 4 to 5-inch containers, we’re letting someone else do that for us and we’re going to concentrate on doing higher dollar combinations that they come here for.

There are a few things that we’re known for, like our hanging baskets, so we’re going to concentrate our growing team and time into more custom-type materials instead, and buying prefinished product.

Q. What lesson will you take from 2012 into 2013?

A. The biggest thing is that if we go into a summer like we’ve had this year, I have to make changes quicker coming out of spring going into summer, such as lessening staff, keeping a tighter rein on inventory, and promoting drought-resistant type planting, maybe going heavier into natives.

Q. Do you have any advice for garden center owners coming into this next year?

A. We’re keeping our nose to the grindstone, and keeping communications open with our customers, which I think is very important. Don’t stop pushing, stay positive, stay motivated. It is an awesome industry, and people can’t do without us in one way or another. It’s just hard to get them to understand that.

If they were to leave their homes with their beautiful shade trees and move into a concrete [place], it would be depressing. Our industry is really the best to be in; you can embrace the seasons and we’re a very caring/sharing industry across the country. I’m constantly hearing, ‘I can’t believe you guys share that kind of information, or that they’re willing to work with you like that.’ We’re all for the betterment of Mother Earth and if we take care of her, she’ll take care of us.