Free yourself to think more clearly

The future of the garden and gardening is malleable and not a given. As such the future of the garden center, garden shop, or whatever we wish to call it is open to a myriad of possibilities. The old order seems to be dying, and a new one has yet to emerge. I suggest there is no one “new order” to arise, but many, many choices available.

It’s this change that frightens us. Will everyone shop only at box stores and their kind? Is the future of gardening businesses just to get bigger and bigger? We hear that one way to be successful in this field is to serve food, or coffee along with our plant offerings. Some stores have found success doing this, while others have not. We are also told that to be successful in this new world we must have attendant business attached to our business. How can we possibly appeal to the new generation of gardeners is we don’t offer more and more choices when they arrive at our store? How can we not offer free Wi-Fi or QR codes to scan? Will everyone simply buy online, leaving the physical store behind?

It’s so difficult to predict the future of gardening, and the gardening related businesses. Everything is possible, and without a guidepost we feel lost and unsure how to proceed. When I started in the business the path “seemed” clearer. Now it would seem we have so many different paths that can be followed. Which is the correct one that will lead to our ability to stay in business and thrive? There is no lack of well meaning people, publications, and organizations ready to help. Who do we listen to?

It seems that with The Internet the amount of information increases daily. You get what you focus on, and with so much “information” coming your way, how can you focus? My suggestion is to limit how much information you digest on any given day. You might think you’ll miss something important if you don’t receive all that information. What if the “future of gardening” is published and you’re the last to find out? Someone else will reap the benefits, and leave you in the dust.

I suggest that you turn off much if not most of that noise. I have cancelled most of my subscriptions to well meaning newsletters, and publications. Not that someone else won’t enjoy them and reap benefits. I find for myself, focusing on a much smaller diet of “positive news” makes a huge difference. There is so much negativity all around that it might seem impossible, but it’s not. This includes The Internet, which can be one of the biggest time sucks there is. Interestingly, when I turned off 90% of “The News” I found that my “online time” shrunk to about 10% of what I had been spending with it before. My outlook has improved and I don’t feel lost or left out. Pick your “trusted resources”, and turn off the others. You’ll free up your mind to focus on what’s really important. You won’t miss a thing and you just might discover the proper path for you follow.

Roger Reynolds Nursery in Menlo Park is closing

Roger Reynolds Nursery, located in Menlo Park, has announced they will be closing shop after September 28th. Roger Reynolds has been serving the mid-San Francisco Peninsula for 97 years. I remember working at Christensen's Nursery, just north of Roger Reynolds 30 years ago.  They we're California Nursery Association members, and the various Peninsula based nurseries would get together regularly for chapter meetings and dinner.

Did you notice where Roger Reynolds is located? Menlo Park is the epicenter for Silicon Valley wealth. Actually Menlo Park has been the epicenter of wealth on The San Francisco Peninsula for over 100 years. How is it a fine garden center such as this can't even make it there?

Here is what Sally Halstead, owner had to say, "It is with a heavy heart that I announce that after 97 years in the same location serving the residents of Menlo Park and the surrounding communities, Roger Reynolds Nursery & Carriage Stop has closed its doors for the last time.

This has not been an easy decision. Despite all our efforts since the severe economic downturn of 2008 our business has been unable to adequately recover.

I thank the generations of loyal, faithful customers who have supported the Roger Reynolds tradition these many years. On behalf of my family and staff, I thank each and every one of you for being with us. Your patronage and support has been most valued and appreciated. Thank you!"

It's a shame to see these old garden centers going out of business. If you can't make a garden center work in Menlo Park, then you know the trade has changed even more fundamentally than just the economic downturn. The modern gardener just does not support the garden center business in numbers great enough to prevent this from happening. Like so many  businesses, you don't realize how special they we're until they are gone.

Who are the 5%?

So you realize that the world of garden retail is changing, and you need to change too. What should you do first? How about finding out who are your top 5% of customers. Who are the people who time and again shop your store, and then tell their friends about you? Maybe they have liked your Facebook page. Have you "liked" them back?

Businesses work so hard trying to get people to "like" their page, that they forget social media is about connecting. It's not a one way street where they like your page, and then sit back to receive the great news of your offerings. How are you helping them? By spamming them with sales offers, or pictures of the cats frolicking in the perennials?

Way too many in our garden businesses think it's all bout saturating the consumer 24/7 with their message. It's not!  Frankly, they don't care about your new line of plants. They care about what plants will live and thrive in their particular situation. How will you know their particular situation if your not paying attention to them? How many of your customers pages have you "liked" or "friend-ed"?

I hear from some in the trade who tell me that social media takes away from the important work of horticulture. The important work in horticulture these days is spreading the message.  The only way you can really get your message to spread these days is to have a "great message", and a group of people who will help you spread it. Likely that's the 5% of your customers that you need to know a bit better than you know them now.

Where do you fit in?

Does that customer buy all their gardening goods from you? Some customers do, but I think the majority buy some of their gardening supplies from you, but also spread their gardening dollar around to other businesses.

When a customer shops at Whole Foods in Folsom they walk right past the “garden center” to enter the door. The garden center is some racks with vegetable and flower starts on them. These are not sad looking little starts, but organically grown starts produced by a small local grower. That small grower use to just sell to independent garden centers. Reality set in and they got the gig with Whole Foods. The soils are organic and produced by a small operation putting quality at the forefront. So easy to buy a few vegetable starts, pick up some potting soil, and head home with the groceries. There is no, “can I get these plants healthier or cheaper anywhere else?” You can’t.

That same person heads home and sees that tomatoes need fertilizer on a regular basis. They didn't call your garden shop, but looked it up online. Guess what? The place they looked it up online also sells the appropriate organic fertilizer. Why wonder all the way to the garden shop to buy fertilizer when all the information and products are a click away, and two days from delivery? Click, and now the fertilizing needs of the tomatoes will be met.

Something is eating the tomato plants. Let’s search “tomato plants chewed” and see what comes up. Ah, ah! Tomato horn worms can be picked off by hand, or you can spray organic BT on the plants. Low and behold the BT can be shipped overnight express from the very place that provided the information and advice. How cool and convenient.

About that garden center the customer never visits. No, they really don’t want to have to go there. It’s always crowded, smells like pesticides, and the people working there seem too busy to help you. Besides, you don’t want to feel stupid by asking stupid questions. Your intelligent and know how to use The Internet to find out just about anything. Frankly, if you never have to visit that Home Depot garden center again, that would be fine by you.

Where do you and your small independent garden center fit into this picture?

Our future customers are in debt, and out of work

The greatest challenge garden centers face is the declining size of the next generation, as well as the enormous debt the next generation is responsible for. The New York Times had this article concerning the student debt the next generation is amassing. Imagine coming out of college owing 150,000 USD and trying to find work in one of the worst job markets in decades. These are the people who are going to buy houses and shop at the local garden center?

Not only is the next generation in debt, and facing an awful job market, but there are just fewer of this generation to replace the boomer generation who is retiring. If the garden center trade is waiting for economic recovery to take place and get back to the way things we’re, it’s going to be waiting a long time. There are just too many garden centers, home stores, box stores, and wholesale suppliers selling plants for the market. Further shrinkage of the trade is inevitable.

I know most in our trade are tired of hearing about how the next generation doesn't want to garden like their parents did. I imagine it’s because we just don’t know what to do. I was talking to a friend who is a wine maker, and that industry is looking at the same thing. They are not buying or drinking wine like their parents did. There is way too much acreage in this State of California growing grapes for the need. How many of these young people can afford $20 USD on wine? How many just don’t drink wine? That trade is shrinking just like the garden center trade.

The younger generation is interested in growing food to eat, and some of the same gardening their parents did. There just isn't enough of them with homes and steady jobs to support the trade. I expect to see the results of this trend first in Europe where the youth unemployment is skyrocketing. It’s already begun and those of us who wish to stay in this trade will have to figure out how to service a shrinking demographic who's interests are different than the generations who helped build the trade.

The only certainty is a smaller and poorer demographic will be our next generation of customers. What can be done to survive and prosper in this environment? I think the future is very bright for those who can figure out which path to take. There will just be a lot fewer of us on that path.

SummerWinds Nursery and Target

Looks like Bay Area nursery chain "SummerWinds" is looking to occupy the now shuttered Target Garden Center locations. According to todaysgardencenter.com, "The first store, which opened in Albany, Calif., in early March, is on schedule to succeed." Sure beats being on schedule to fail.

SummerWinds is leasing the locations with the entrance into Target being closed. Target is the landlord leasing out the space to SummerWinds. "Target will still have a seasonal department that will carry gardening goods during certain times of the year. The primary overlap would be fertilizers and controls. SummerWinds is emphasizing its organic lines to avoid any overlap."

Here is where I think a mistake is being made on SummerWinds part. According to Leo Goria, who is heading up the Target project, "SummerWinds is using a different pricing strategy with this store than it does with its current stores, to the point that if the Target store turns into multiple stores, it will create a new division for SummerWinds. 'The profit margin for this store is just over 40 percent,' Goria says. 'The initial margin at a traditional location is more than 50 percent.' How does that play out in prices? A common perennial in a quart pot is normally $4.99 at a traditional location; at the Target store, it is $3.99.'"

Why the different pricing strategy? Are Target shoppers unable to afford the $1.00 more for a quality plant? Once you start to segregate your shoppers based on perceived ability to pay you have started down the rabbit hole of diminishing profits. It's almost like they are saying, "Target shoppers can't or won't afford plants unless they pay a 40% markup instead of a 50% markup?"

I like the idea of leasing the space out, but why price your stuff differently than your garden center stores? What happens when people walk in and ask that the same plant they saw at your SummerWinds Garden Shop be marked down like the same plant they saw at Target?

Support your locally run garden businesses

Having been in the garden center business for 30 years, I have seen all sorts of changes. A very powerful and positive change is the ability of gardening businesses to communicate with one another via The Internet. Sure, we communicated before via trade meetings once a month, or phone calls to see what price their petunia six packs we're, but that was about it. Many of us lived in an isolation of sorts, always wondering what other gardening businesses we're thinking and doing.

That's changing, and in a very positive way for smaller garden businesses. With our Independent Garden Center Group we have garden center owners and employees  communicating about all sorts of subjects. It's a place where you can ask your peers if they have ever tried this idea or that one, and receive thoughtful responses quickly. The best part is many of the subjects and ideas worked out in the group are making a real difference to businesses bottom lines. The people in the group want to be there, and that makes all the difference. Look to our group to continue making a positive difference in the garden center trade.

To give our fans a place to show their support we created "LOGON to GROW". It stands for locally owned garden centers or nurseries. We want to spread the news that supporting locally owned, well run business is vital to the community. If you don't, then all we will be left with to buy our garden supplies is box stores, mega growers, and chemical companies. As more and more people dive into growing their own food a resource for information and goods is vital. We have lots of cool ideas to share with you and would like to have your opinion on how we can do a even better job. Come celebrate local, green, garden businesses at LOGON to GROW.