With both Hines and Bordiers Nursery having filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy one wonders just what these companies will focus on after the emerge from bankruptcy. Will they return to the chains like Home Depot? Will they focus on independent garden centers? I am sure one of the areas that got theses places in trouble is the pay by scan that Home depot and other chains require. Pay at scan means the grower, like Bordier's does not get paid until it is sold to the end customer by Home Depot. If The Depot does not sell the plants they are returned to the grower and not paid for. This explains the row upon row of clipped rosemary I saw at our local Home Depot. They we're selling them at prices I would have to pay for them. They we're from The Pinery, owned by Bordiers. So the bottom line is, the customer got a great deal on clipped Christmas Trees, but the supplier went belly up. What happens next year? Will growers who want to do business with the chains still sign on to pay at scan next year? Will they return to the independents that have to pay when the receive the plants, not just when they are sold? I don't think there are enough independents to support all these growers. Big changes coming down the pike when it comes to plant growers. Will growers who currently do not supply the chains start seeing an opportunity, and start selling to them? I could see that happening, except I can't imagine any grower signing up for pay by scan. Does this mean The Depot and others will have to start paying for the plants when the arrive? Gee, what will they do when the plants start to die and they can't return them. What the rest of us independents have had to do all along, "Eat the loss."
From the comments in the last post I see that El Modeno Gardens Nursery has not filed for bankruptcy protection. A comment before indicated that they had. So we will wait and see what happens. El Modeno has been thick in the box stores for the last few years, and they have to play by the same rules as every other grower. Perhaps, financially they are better prepared to weather the storm. Time will tell. I do agree that the box stores have sucked the life out of these companies, but it takes two to tango, and the companies knew who they we're getting in bed with from the get go.