A good bet

Petitti Garden Centers, which has nine stores in Northeast Ohio, began “dabbling” in fairy and miniature gardens in 2013, says Martha Rancourt, a buyer for the company and the category.

The department was an instant hit -- sales of supplies for the tiny gardens doubled between 2014 and 2015, Rancourt says.

After seeing how successful the section was, Rancourt suggested that fairy and miniature gardening receive more prominence and space at the company’s Avon location, a state-of-the-art facility built in 2007. This year, they moved and expanded the area from a space that housed mostly patio furniture to the store’s home and décor section.

“The clear window [in the patio house] gave the department no solid sight line, so I wanted it to move for better merchandising opportunities along with some solid walls to create more of a creative space. [This also] gave the department a permanent home for regular priced goods and sale goods,” says Rancourt, who has been with the company for 15 years. “It doubled in space. The patio house had an estimated 500 square feet, and inside the Avon home accents room, it has approximately 1,000 square feet now.”

As of June 2016, the Avon location’s sales of fairy and miniature gardening items is up 26.5 percent year to date, she says.

“I am very particular in what I bring into our stores. Our customer is a very traditional customer,” she says, adding that while she buys from a handful of companies, Wholesale Fairy Gardens products do particularly well with her clientele. “Currently trending for us are our miniature houses with LED lighting – the doors that open on the houses are part of our best sellers – battery operated rice lights [also] sell very well for us in the fairy/miniature department.”

Popular homes for miniature garden scenes include terra cotta pots that appear to be broken and acorns “cracked” open to create tiny worlds, Rancourt says, adding that the pre-made gardens created by staff did particularly well over Mother’s Day weekend.

To be successful with selling fairy and miniature gardens, inspiration is essential, and that goes beyond customers. Rancourt says it’s also important to spark excitement in staff members and “give them some creative goods to make into spectacular items to sell.”

One example of merchandising Rancourt is especially proud of are the motifs staff built for a recent local art show with handcrafted Latin American Root Bird Houses that are “very special for us,” she says.

“They are harvested from the root out of the riverbanks, and they are shaped while they are wet,” she says. “[The merchandising was] just such gorgeous work done by our people. I am so very proud of our staff.”

Another way Petitti promotes fairy and miniature gardens is with education. Monthly make-it-take-it workshops featuring the fairy and miniature gardening department are limited to 20 people, and Rancourt says they have all sold out within a day so far. Classes cost $12.99 to $49.99 and take place primarily at 10 a.m. Saturday. Workshops for terrariums with fairy and miniature gardening items have been very popular, and they also offer classes teaching people how to make miniature worlds with lanterns and tea cups. She said attendees run the gamut, but many are moms and dads with children.

In just a few years, Petitti has become a destination for the hobby.

“Customers know that we have the largest selection in northern Ohio of fairy/miniature gardening,” she says.

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