Independent pride

While most independent garden centers have little reason to be thankful for big-box stores, Plants for All Seasons (PFAS) in Houston, Texas, is actually very grateful. One of its two locations, the store located along Highway 249, became the next-door neighbor of a Home Depot built in 1999, 26 years after PFAS first opened.

“Having Home Depot as a neighbor has definitely increased traffic to our nursery,” said Victor Flaherty, owner, Plants for All Seasons. “When a customer leaves HD not having found what they were looking for or getting answers to their questions, they pull out of the HD parking lot and enter ours or just walk over. Customers are quickly learning that we not only have a larger, healthier selection of plants for our area, but we can answer their questions on how to care for them.”

Having a big box plop down in its backyard hasn’t been the only major change for PFAS. Just prior to the construction of the Home Depot, the store had to deal with a major highway expansion. In the process, PFAS lost two acres of property and all other neighboring businesses, which had helped attract customers.

“So after all of the construction dust settled and the big-box store arrived, we actually experienced an immediate 20-percent increase in sales,” Flaherty said. “Now there is a Lowe’s, a Super Walmart, a Target and a Home Depot all within one mile. Since HD opened nine years ago, our sales have tripled. So, I’m thrilled to have Home Depot as a neighbor.”

Second Seasons
There’s a second Plants For All Seasons location about five miles away, owned by Brian Flaherty, Victor’s brother. Independently owned and operated, the stores partner on some efforts, such as marketing, to help reduce costs and maximize exposure. Brian’s store has done something that might shock most recession-concerned businesses: they relocated their business for a year while they completely rebuilt their location. The new and improved PFAS reopened in February with a state-of-the-art building featuring a 2,000 square-foot gift shop, as well as an additional 4,000 square-foot indoor shop for hardlines, fertilizer, etc.

“In addition to the new building, we expanded walkways, making paths wider and easier to maneuver, and basically moved things around to get the most advantageous use of the space we have,” said Brian. “This allowed us to expand our product lines in several different categories, and we believe will result in improved bottom-line performance.”

Both PFAS locations share the same issue of space–or lack thereof. They don’t have the endless acres that allow many garden centers to create display gardens and host big events. “We have to focus on service, along with the quality and selection of our plants,” said Victor. “We’ve also embraced technology, allowing us to more effectively communicate with our customers in a consistent, informative manner.”

To that end, Victor maintains a regular blog, The Dirt (http://thedirt.plantsforallseasons.com/). “Our customers and associates have shown a genuine interest in knowing what goes on behind the scenes, and we have no reason to not share that information,” Victor said.

His blog hits on everything from financial information to silly gardening mistakes. He also is quite frank about sharing his opinions. “We want our customers to know what’s behind the decisions we make, the products we carry, and the prices we charge. After all, that’s part of why they’re coming to us and not the big-box stores.”

Another online presence. Victor has his own online venture, www.rateanursery.com, a site launched in 2008. Here he shares Houston-specific gardening information and asks consumers to rate area nurseries based on price, service, selection, knowledge, convenience and their customer policies. Garden center shoppers answer 38 multiple choice questions, and the nursery gets a score.

“If Houston-area consumers are telling us their opinions, we as independent garden center owners can learn from that feedback and hopefully become better operators as a result. We started with a list of garden centers that we knew and are now being asked by owners of nurseries we didn’t know to be added. It’s encouraging to see many independent garden center (IGC) owners embrace this concept of in-your-face honesty.

“For the most part the IGCs outrank the big box stores in every category, but every once in a while, an unhappy consumer will remind IGCs that they can never let their guard down, we must always be on our toes to offer customers our very best. Regardless of the economy or any other list of excuses, we must always deliver the extra service if we want to charge the extra price that goes with it.”

For more: Plants For All Seasons; www.plantsforallseasons.com; www.plantsforallseasonslouetta.com.

Dana Wood-Flores is a Houston-based freelance writer and owner of Danamo Marketing.