BLOOM! bounces back

This is the third and final article in a series profiling BLOOM! Garden Center in Michigan, which opened in the spring of 2013. Visit gardencentermag.com to read the first two articles in the series, “Founded in 2013” from August 2013 and “On the brink” from September/ October 2013.
 

In 2013, Garden Center magazine launched a three-part series profiling BLOOM! Garden Center in Dexter, Mich., a boutique-like garden store that opened in April. We wanted to discover what it was like start a new business in 2013. Statistics vary, but most reports show that more new companies fail in the first 18 months than make it. We hoped for a different outcome. BLOOM! had a rocky first year, and owner Traven Pelletier wasn’t sure his business would have a second season. But he was determined to prove that gloomy outlook for new entrepreneurs wrong.

Last fall, his chances looked bleak. He and his fiancé, Kristy Kerr, discussed the possibility that they would lose their home. He met with a bankruptcy lawyer to review his options.

“It got a lot worse through the middle of the summer as it continued to be really dead,” Pelletier had said. “[August] was really dark as I was looking at the potential of it collapsing.”

But this summer, he reported good news.

“Things have turned around and we can do a final ‘Success Story’ LOL,” Pelletier wrote in an email. “We have a happy ending to our story.”
 

A late start

Like many independent garden centers across the country, winter wreaked havoc on BLOOM!’s spring, and the business was not doing well at first. Pelletier had closed the garden center starting in late fall through winter, but he still couldn’t sell plant material in what ended up being a snowy April.

“We had a slow start and were still paying off vendors from last year,” Pelletier said when we caught up with him during the IGC Show Bus Tour in Chicago. “Going into the fall last year, I couldn’t get any more money from the bank, and investors were like, ‘We already gave you tens of thousands of dollars, figure it out yourself.’”

Pelletier was new to retail, but not to business ownership. He also owns Elemental Design, a creative landscape and design build firm he began as a division of the Ann Arbor-based Lotus Gardenscapes, where he worked for more than a decade. That side of the business was booming, but not enough to help float BLOOM! through what ended up being a long, bitter cold winter. So Pelletier’s family stepped in.

“My mom gave me $75,000 that she pulled out of an unmortgaged home,” Pelletier said. “She had faith in me, and that got us through the winter.”

Warm weekends finally came in May, and unlike 2013, the big weekends for garden centers — Mother’s Day and Memorial Day — boasted perfect weather. By June, Pelletier says they were finally “pulling ahead.”
 

Fresh perspective

Landscape design and art are Pelletier’s passions, and he was hoping he could spend more time on the Elemental Design side of the business, and leave BLOOM! operations to his staff, people who have more retail experience than him. But he quickly learned that he needed to spend more time at the store, especially in its infancy.

“Right now, we’re just 20 percent retail and 80 percent landscape and design. There are no more art shows, I actually had to focus on running the store,” Pelletier said, laughing, referring to an early vision that BLOOM! would sell quality local art. “We never sold any art. Now we use the space for workshops.”

That workshop space, a portion of the garden center and Elemental Design offices are housed within a 2,400-square-foot barn that dates back to the 19th century.

This year, they hosted workshops on everything from tree and shrub care to building a pondless waterfall, but sometimes they’d only attract a handful of people. The goal is to schedule all workshops at the beginning of the season.

One surprise for Pelletier this year was the popularity of fairy gardening goods. He knew it was a strong category for other IGCs, but he didn’t think it would take off quite like it did. Instead of “dabbling” in it this year, they’re going to dig in. The “Fairy Garden Corner” allows customers to play with merchandise and purchase what they like, something that nursery manager Stacey Rayer says helps move the items.

Pelletier also wanted to nail down systems and make sure BLOOM! didn’t order too much inventory, a mistake of 2013, and that there was a clear process for garden center customers who were interested in hiring professional landscapers from his business.

During the IGC Show Garden Center Bus Tour, while all of the other independent garden center owners were examining home décor, statuary and plants, flipping over price tags and kneeling for a closer look, Pelletier was reading through documents and asking about staff procedures. At one garden center, he spent most of the time talking to the owner about a form he gives to customers who want to hire professional landscapers.

“Internally, we have much better systems for organization and communication. People understand job positions better, and understand what they are responsible for,” he says. “We actually have clear systems for watching money, and we know what’s selling. Last year we really over ordered. Now we’re watching margins more.”
 

Tough lessons

Rayer, a 30-year veteran of horticulture, says despite the tough first year, she always knew the store would survive.

“We had a fiscally crazy year, but additional support came through when we needed it most to get over the first year hurdles. We have a great location, and improvements to our curb appeal have really caught the attention of the public,” she says. “Word of mouth advertising has been our best source of new shoppers. We also placed a billboard on major highway I-94, and that brought in many new folks as well.”

This season just feels different, too.

“Local people were skeptical of the new ownership on this site last year. A few folks had tried to make a go of it here over the years with no success. We needed to overcome some perceived bad feelings and past product offerings,” she said. “Word is now out that we are not outsiders taking over a landmark Dexter site, but familiar, trusted, local citizens with good reputations for great design and excellent customer service.”

Those products and services are also more clearly defined and advertised now, Pelletier says. He always planned to set himself apart from other garden centers in the area by offering a robust selection of water gardening items and professional advice for installation. Instead of hiding that section in the back, he moved the section toward the front of the store and moved bagged goods back.

“It helped improve the feeling of the retail area. The display gardens are really nice now,” he says. “We have fountains, a pond, and it feels really nice and interesting when you first walk in.”

BLOOM! has an advantage of being on a main road just outside of town, but trees in the front beds blocked the store and the sign. Newly planted perennials and a concise sign advertising that BLOOM! is a garden center with landscape design experts and a large aquaponic section took care of that problem.
 

Renewed energy

Pelletier knew launching this new endeavor wouldn’t be easy.

“It presented a growth challenge for me personally. It revitalized my business, Elemental Design. It was stagnant and it wasn’t presenting a challenge anymore,” he says. “It feels good to come through that with dignity and see that the staff has as well. The people who stuck with me have pride in this.”

Instead of dreading next year, wondering if they're going to make it, there's a renewed energy among the staff.

“The staff got through that difficult first year. There’s a lot of momentum and sales. The team has pulled together. It’s not like we are entering the winter thinking, ‘Oh God, how are we going to get through this?’ We’re thinking about what cool things we can do for the spring.”