Reel them in

You can’t live on previous accolades; you have to always push to do better. That’s the mantra at Greenland Garden Centre in Sherwood Park, Alberta.

Deb Sirman, co-owner of Greenland Garden Centre, says that it’s ingrained into the culture to always be looking forward. Sirman makes a point to try new things and encourages employees to do the same.

“What can we do tomorrow to make people come into the store, as opposed to saying ‘Oh, we did really good, let’s be complacent and accept it,’” she says.

The company was founded in 1960 by John Chichak. He started a small garden center in north Edmonton and specialized in lawn maintenance. In 1989, John’s children, Deb, Tim, Wayne and son-in-law Rod decided to build a garden center that would become a year-round destination. The new Greenland opened in 1991 and has been loyally serving Alberta’s families since then.

Sirman says the IGC is challenging its managers to look for different ways to bring people into the center other than just selling plants. Greenland gives back to the community through charitable events, which also builds the IGC’s standing in its community. It also does design consultations, in which a customer pays for a one-hour appointment to get advice from one of Greenland’s pros on what to do in their yard.

Another way Greenland brings more people in the door is through its botanic garden. Nearly two acres of plantings and a beautiful pond provide inspiration for gardeners for their own yards. Thousands of perennials, shrubs and trees make up the garden, and everything is labeled.

“It’s a crazy amount of work and time, but in that garden we host weddings and photography sessions,” Sirman says. “We also teach in the garden.”

Sirman and her team focus on new ideas to bring people in during the summer, when they’re often getting complacent in their garden. Just getting new people in the door is the key to getting new customers. One of the biggest ways Greenland finds new potential customers is through its restaurant, Branches Fresh Food Experience. Sirman says starting the restaurant in 2014 was one of the toughest things they’ve done, but the payoff has been completely worth the effort.

“It’s one of the best things we ever did but one of the hardest, too,” she says. “We've got 100 seats that are going to be walking around the garden center at some point.”

The restaurant also is a complementary business to the garden center.

“On a Friday night when it’s quiet at most garden centers, our restaurant’s packed,” she says.

Sirman and her husband, Rod, are foodies, which helps them know what will attract people to Branches. Sirman says her husband is a non-professional chef who loves to cook, and they both love trying new dishes whenever they travel. The recipe for Branches’ wood-fired pizza came from Sicily, for example, where Rod took a cooking course.

“Our asset has been that his passion has reflected into the restaurant,” she says. “Everything’s made from scratch as much as we can. When we really like a dish, whether it’s from Mexico or Hawaii, we will just go home and try to work with it with our head chefs and come up with our own version of it.”

They travel often, and when they do, they’re visiting garden centers and restaurants and looking for inspiration in both. Before they started the restaurant, Sirman had a little cappuccino bar because she saw that at an IGC 40 years ago and loved the idea. A coffee shop provides the reason for customers to stay a little longer and spend a little more money.

But then the wheels started turning in her head after a trip across the ocean to visit some European garden centers. “We went to England, and every garden center has more people in the restaurant than they do in their garden centers, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is something to look at,’” she says.

However, the clientele was mostly older adults. While Greenland has plenty of older customers, the IGC wanted its restaurant to appeal to a younger crowd as well.

Nearly 25 years ago, Sirman started appearing as a guest on a popular gardening radio show. It was a 10-15 minute guest spot, but years later, when the host’s health issues forced him away, Sirman was offered the opportunity to lead the show. Every Sunday morning from 9 to 11 a.m., listeners can tune in to hear Greenland experts discuss the gardening topics of the day. They also can call in with questions.

“To me, that’s why you go to an independent garden center,” she says. “We’re really able to talk gardening and push past the baloney that box stores feed to people. It’s really set our name within the industry and I think the industry itself, because that’s all we do is promote independent business, always.”

Despite high interest rates and increased costs for necessities like groceries and gasoline, 2023 has been good for Greenland. Sirman says sales have increased over last year. “We always have known that our industry was labeled as recession-proof, but we're very aware that people have to pay their bills, etc. So we came in with hesitation and are very happy with how it turned out.”

For more: www.greenlandgarden.com