Success by thinking small

Finding businesses and people who have become successful by thinking and staying small is a pleasure of mine. "Small is cool" is about people and business who have found success by traveling  a different path. The competition in the nursery trade is fierce, with the box stores bringing in the very suppliers that at one time we're exclusive to the independent channel. Trying to compete on their scale is impossible for most  smaller garden shops, so we need to find a different way. I see examples of different businesses who have achieved some success, however they define it, by staying true to their beliefs and staying small. Today in SFGate an article titled, "Wine shops find success in thinking small"caught my eye. Wine merchants have many of the same concerns as garden centers might have. We read that, "of course, great wine boutiques have been here all along. But in recent years, those who deliberately chose the small path have seen customer loyalty survive even when the recession pushed a $60 splurge down to $20." It continues with, "supermarkets and large retailers like BevMo have always offered ease of shopping - although at times it feels like I'm staring at a long row of wines that came from the same big spigot. But buying wine is becoming more intimate. Customers are willing to pay for expert curation."

So while the big suppliers like BevMo and Costco will always have a market, these wine merchants in the SFGate article have found a way to survive and thrive by, "...downsizing. Similar to what happened on Bay Area wine lists, buyers decided they didn't have to be all things to all people. Stores could be smaller, which meant lower rents and the chance to do one thing really well."  Some garden centers are starting to see this, and are headed in that direction. Should you?

Groupon sinking

The daily deal site Groupon, was all the rage in the retail world just a year ago. It seemed that retailers had found the secret to success. Just  give your product or service away, and watch the customers flow through the doors. Once they have seen your amazing offerings they will return again and again to buy stuff you CAN make money on. Why does small business, or any business fall for stuff like this? We talked about Groupon a few times here at this blog, and warned against getting involved with them. Seems these days Groupon is losing staff and money at a fairly good clip. Their stock is down 75% from it's November 2011 IPO and they are losing staff.  I don't have a lot of sympathy for Groupon, since they seem to be built on the backs of small businesses who for one reason or another fell under their spell. Usually it's smaller retailers desperate for traffic flow that jump on board with Groupon in the hope that volume somehow trumps profit, or the quality of their offerings. It also assumes that people  care only about "cheap'. I think the customers we are looking for don't necessarily feel that way, and don't respond to "price only".

Plantosaurus Rex

What a fantastic way to spend a day with a child, and let your imagination's run free. The Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco has a new exhibit titled, “Plantosaurus Rex”, and it’s all about ancient plants and dinosaurs. That’s the “hook”  to get the kids interested.  We read in an article of SF Gate that, "I was a huge dinosaur nerd as a kid," admitted Director of Operations and Exhibitions Lau Hodges, who put the display together and wrote its explanatory booklet. "It was a dream come true, a chance to show a lot of plants we don't often display." What a fantastic idea. Kids just love thinking about dinosaurs. To be able to see them in their native surroundings, what a thrill. There is even a T Rex busting through the roof of the conservatory. Oh, and there are lots of plants that even T Rex might have even trampled through. Take a child with you, and ignite their imagination.

The Conservatory of Flowers is located in Golden Gate Park.

Far Out!

Check out this cool blog from San Francisco, titled "Far Out Flora". Megan And Matti write the blog from their home near Ocean Beach. The blog is a visual delight, filled with photographs of plants that grow in the frost free climate.  Megan tells me that investing a few years ago in a decent SLR camera made a big difference in the quality of the photography. The colors really do jump out. It makes me want to use more photographs in my own blog. What's  cool is the two work for different garden shops. Matti works for Flora Grubb Gardens while Megan works for Annie's Annuals. Both garden centers know about, and encourage their blogging. Flora Grubb recently posted about Matti's mounted staghorn ferns  that are for sale at the shop. It's a win-win for everyone involved.

It's been cold and rainy here in Norcal the last few days. I think I'll head over to their latest post titled, "Driftwood Insanity in the Sunset".  You'll feel like you're walking down  The Great Highway on a sunny day, enjoying the show.

Guerrilla Grafters

The mantra repeated in the horticultural trade businesses at this time is, if we don't start a national campaign to promote gardening people will spend time doing something else. But, why go through all the expense and time of that when we have a younger generation that is very interested in horticulture already? The concern for us in the gardening business is they're  just not shopping at the garden center like mom and dad use too. Don't think the younger generations are interested in gardening? Your not looking in the right places. The newest expression of urban gardening is "Guerrilla Grafters". Talk about taking matters into your own hands, literally.  According to SFBay.com "Guerrilla Grafters bring fruit to the masses". According to the article, Tara Hui is one of the founders  of "Guerrilla Grafters, a renegade agricultural group that  fruit-bearing branches onto public trees in the Bay Area for locals to enjoy for free."

According to SFBay, "Volunteers in the Bay Area collect branches from the California Rare Fruit Growers association or pick up donated branches from backyard gardeners and regional orchards." This bud stock is then grafted onto existing non-bearing trees like flowering pears.  In the short video above you can learn what they are trying to accomplish.

There are a host of unanswered questions we could think up about this. That's not the point, however. This crazy interest in grafting and gardening is what catches my attention. Grafting is not always an easy process, yet this 100 member volunteer group has learned how to do it, and are doing it. It is even spreading to other cities and countries. Call it "Guerrilla Grafting" if you like, but it's still a form of gardening. If we in the trade are going to capture these peoples interest and enthusiasm it's not through large campaigns, or media blitzes. It will be by providing the tools they need, and helping them spread the word of how cool gardening is via social media.

Work at Annie's Annuals

Here is a great opportunity to work at one of the more dynamic nurseries around. Annie's Annuals in Richmond Ca., is looking to fill three different nursery positions. You can check them out here. According to Elayne who works at the nursery, "we're quirky, offer good health benefits and pay fairly. We work really hard - but we also have a lot of fun!" If I wanted to build or continue a career in garden center retail this would be a great place. Frankly, there are not that many places around that afford this kind of opportunity in our trade. Learn and work with people who are leading the way in garden retail.

Make your message easy to spread

One of the coolest logo's of any garden center is Sloat's Garden Centers in The San Francisco Bay Area. This chain has been in business since 1958 and takes it's name from the site of the original store on Sloat Avenue, near the zoo.

The logo is perfect for the time and place. Forward looking woman who looks like she really gardens. This person is ready for business. This is the  opposite message of The Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies. While both are "fictional" the Sloat logo sends a different message. Self-reliance as opposed to "needful", intelligence as opposed to "gossipy", independence as opposed to "group think". You could take the Sloat logo, and put it on a gift bag, or bumper sticker and it sends a message. Put the "Ladies" on a shopping bag? Not. You could even take the Sloat logo and paste different sayings across it. "Rebel", "Independent", "Flower Power", "Change", "Hope", etc. I am going to take a guess and say most women would rather where a tee-shirt with the Sloat logo on it than a tee-shirt with the "Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies" printed on it.

Is there a description of the "average" garden center customer? Is there one logo or idea that will work for all garden

centers, or appeal to all garden center customers? No. Perhaps in some regions The Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies will resonate.  You cannot please everyone and each store has to decide what direction their marketing efforts go. What you have to figure out is how to allow your customers to spread the word for you. One way is through "social objects" like logo's. You want an easy way for people to share your stores message. They have to want to spread the message, and the message has to resonate with others.  "I want a tee shirt like that" or "I want to be the type of person who shops at a cool place like Sloats." Make your message easy to spread. Make it a message people will want to spread.

Biggest indoor plant nursery in San Mateo Co. Ca. files for bankruptcy

According to The Mercury News, Nurseryman's Exchange “the biggest wholesaler of indoor potted plants in San Mateo County and a major Coastside employer, announced Monday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The family-owned company intends to remain on the coast but is in the midst of ‘restructuring,’ according to CEO Jack Pearlstein." It’s big news as I grew up near this place, and met my wife in Half Moon Bay. It was a landmark along the coast.  San Mateo County is known as the greenhouse capitol of California. According to Rivian Bell a spokesperson for a PR firm representing Nurseryman’s Exchange, “Nurserymen's revenue was $62.7 million in 2010 and $51.1 million so far in 2011, according to financial documents. Bell said the company posted a loss in 2010 but would not say how large it was. Wells Fargo has agreed to loan the company up to $5 million to take care of its remaining debts this summer.”

“Half Moon Bay flower farmer and City Councilman John Muller said he was sad, but not surprised, to hear about the struggles at Nurserymen's Exchange. ‘The nursery business has really changed,’ Muller said. ‘The shipping costs of moving products across the county are really high.’ Most of the greenhouse nursery industry is now based in East Coast states such as Georgia, North Carolina and New Jersey, he added.”

What’s slated to be built on the site? “The grassy parcels, four in all, are zoned for housing subdivisions.” Mr. Muller is correct, the nursery business has really changed.  Just what Half  Moon Bay needs more of, homes instead of employers. It has gone from a working person's town, to a suburb of San Francisco, inhabited by those who can afford the high costs of living there. Kind of a shame, but the way it is.

What's the buzz?

The way to get people to talk up your brand is to do something remarkable. If you do that then people will spread the word. Why does a place like Annie's Annuals, a smaller grower and retail operation in the SF Bay Area get so much publicity without a large advertising budget? This place has a remarkable fan base which seems to have been built on mostly word of mouth. It's because Annie and her nursery are remarkable! She has stuff you don't find elsewhere, a fun and enthusiastic atmosphere, and you feel like you know the owner. She has put herself out there, and these days that's remarkable, and people freely spread the word. Annie's brand has way more buzz than many older, or more established horticultural brands will ever have.  Just Google Annie's Annuls and you'll see page after page of great reviews. With all the advertising we are inundated with everyday how does you brand stand out? The use of social media will not spread the word when the brand is not that remarkable.  Social Media is a tactic.  As the social media scene get's filled with more and more advertising the only way any brand can hope to stand out is create something unique, and news worthy. How many brands in the horticultural world have that kind of buzz?

SF Botanical Garden fee's not enough. Let's spend more!

The Botanical Garden in Golden Gate park instituted an admissions fee in August of last year. The formally free venue decided to start charging $7 for non-residents. Residents can enter free, with proof of residency. According to SFGate.com, "Officials initially estimated that the entrance fee would generate $650,000 in the current fiscal year, which began July 1. But the projection later was reduced to $402,401, due in part to delayed implementation and lower-than-expected attendance by nonresidents. Now, according to Rose, the projections have been lowered further, to $355,992."

The fee was instituted with the caveat that it would come up for a vote of The Board of Supervisors the following year.  While some on the board want to keep the fees, others say it's time to end the fees and allow people to walk through free. The Parks and Recreation Department and Botanical Garden Society officials have raised their expectations for revenue for the next fiscal year, "they anticipate the nonresident visitor fee will bring in $542,055, or $337,219 after administrative costs." Administrative costs for the botanical garden are over $210,000.

The revenue last year was not what they expected, so this year they raise the revenue expectations by 52.3%? How are they going to do that? According to Sarah Ballard, policy director for the Recreation and Park Department, "this facility has never really been promoted. This is a world-class living museum." According to SFGate, "she said a robust marketing campaign is planned to draw more tourists to the Botanical Garden." I wonder what the "robust marketing campaign" is going to cost? What is the basis for expecting an increase in revenue by 52.3 percent, and how do they come up with these figures? 52.3%?

Originally the fee was suppose to end "if voters approved a citywide tax increase to bring in more revenue. That happened in November, when the city's real estate transfer tax was raised." Why are we then talking about continuing the fee?

If the arboretum is "world class" then that by itself would be enough to attract the needed attendance without the marketing campaign. Back in the day I use to visit the arboretum all the time. It is a wonderful place, yet the visit's would have been a lot fewer if I had been charged an admission fee. As the article in SFGate quotes Supervisor John Avalos, "one only has to linger a few moments at the gate to see frustrated San Franciscans without their (identifications), and nonresidents who don't want to be gouged, turned away".

So the fee was suppose to end if a special tax was passed. The tax passes, but that's not enough. Revenue is down so let's estimate a 52.3% increase in attendance for no other reason than a yet to be determined "robust marketing campaign". Sound's like a whole lot of wishing going on.