Deck the halls

An independent garden center is the obvious destination for wreathes, pine trees and poinsettias for the holidays, but what about decorations, bows, lights and ornaments? Christmas is the most lucrative time of year for most retail outlets, but many garden centers aren’t capitalizing on the buying frenzy.
From decorating seminars to in-home decorating services to pre-lit trees and even Santa himself, Countryside Flowershop, Nursery and Garden Center and Merrifield Garden Center are making the most of the holiday season, and so can your garden center.

Bring the holidays home. At Countryside in Crystal Lake, Ill., it’s all about making holiday preparations as easy as possible for their customers. Countryside has been offering their Christmas decorating services to homes and businesses for more than 20 years and in that time, their client base has grown to more than 50 clients.

One key to their success is their themed trees on display at the store that come all in different styles from cute and whimsical to lush and regal. “We have something for everyone!,” says flower shop manager Jennifer Hunt.

Originally, Countryside’s decorating services spread through word of mouth, but in the last 10 years, they’ve started using print ads and showcasing their work at several holiday house tours in the area, which is a great way to gain exposure at just the right time. “We also offer classes and demonstrations explaining how we create our unique looks for the store and how customers can apply those techniques to their homes,” Hunt says.

The service not only brings in a hefty sum, it helps move other items in the store. Customers store their own decorations after the holidays, but Countryside even offers a repacking service where Countryside employees come back after Christmas and box up the decorations until next year.

“It allows our customers to customize their holiday looks without having to run all over looking for products,” Hunt says. “Arrangements are made specifically for their homes to the scale and look of their homes.”

When customers can make one stop for all of their decorating needs, they’re likely to spend more, and come back the next year. “With the high demands of work and family, many professionals are using our services to allow them to spend more time with their families,” Hunt says.

But sometimes the decorating tasks are simply too large for a family to handle. As trees get taller and taller, the setup and takedown gets more difficult. That’s when Countryside comes in to handle the larger scale, more difficult work – all in about two hours and for under $500.

For instance, the typical four-member team can put up a pre-lit tree, decorate it, hang a railing garland, decorate the mantle and put fresh evergreens in the outdoor pots.

“Something like that would take the average homeowner a whole day, if not a whole weekend,” Hunt says. “That’s not to say they don’t do some of their decorating. They tend to have us do the larger, more difficult work.”

Make a one-stop Christmas Shop. Merrifield Garden Centers in Virginia really know how to make the most of the holiday season. For more than 40 years, Merrifield has been transforming itself into a winter wonderland offering decorating seminars, visits with Santa and more.

The Christmas Shop is one of the biggest attractions at all three locations. With themed trees, a wide selection of ornaments, ribbons, custom-made bows and other holiday items, customers make it their one-stop shop for the holidays. Then there are the holiday plants like poinsettias and amaryllis, and both live and artificial trees.

“We take great pride in our Christmas Shop,” says Merrifield manager Kevin Warhurst. “Our designers travel to trade shows throughout the year in an endless search to find the latest and greatest holiday decorations. Our team won’t buy themed packages, so a display you find at Merrifield could have products from 20, 30 or even 40 different vendors.”

For the first few years, the garden center sold ornaments and handmade potpourri. Now, designers create 20 holiday displays at each store. “It was quite a bit of work, but a lot of fun,” Warhurst says. “In the early days, we took the flocking machine and flocked the whole store – even the ceiling – to make it look like the North Pole. We’ve come a long way since then.”

Although the shop itself isn’t a “huge money maker,” according to Warhurst, it’s a great way to bring people into the store and build the brand. It’s also a fun reward for employees after a long selling season and a way to keep them on, instead of laying off workers until spring.

“For many people, it’s a time-honored tradition to see Merrifield’s fabulous holiday displays,” Warhurst says. “They can spend hours looking at our gorgeous trees. For us, it’s very rewarding to see the excitement in their eyes and know that we were able to create some holiday magic for them.”

But, how did the Christmas Shop become so successful? The one-of-a-kind displays and festive atmosphere make it an experience. The store doesn’t run many specials during the holidays, but the beautiful displays keep customers coming back. “The holiday displays and products are always evolving as we strive to top what we did the year before to continually excite and inspire our customers,” Warhurst says. “Customers pay us the highest compliment when they tell us that each year is better than the previous year.”