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Posted by admin to Controversy, The Big Boys, nursery, nurseryperson on 2008-03-24, 07:16:18

My post on “This is what happens when chain stores sell plants” got a lot of interest from people concerned or surprised at whats going on at chain stores when it comes to what they are selling. My most recent comment comes from John Peter Thompson who says “As Chairman of a 78 year old [...]

(Via The Blogging Nurseryman - The Art of Running a Small Garden Center or Nursery)

Posted by admin to Small is Cool, nursery on 2008-03-21, 10:27:52

Saturday I will be at the Sacramento Perennial Plant Club sale trying to entice people to make the trip up the hill to see us. I will be selling some special plants that I have picked out from the nursery. Very special prices for the plant sale, too! Every year Saul Wiseman, who is the [...]

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Posted by admin to California, nursery on 2008-03-18, 07:33:58

I wrote a post about what to do with the empty nursery pots here. I just got a comment from faboomama. She asks “It would be nice if there was a comprehensive statewide effort to reduce the waste of these pots, but barring that, I’m looking for anyone who can take my pots and recycle [...]

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Posted by admin to Small is Cool, nursery on 2008-03-18, 06:34:02

I want to address Jays concerns with my last post, Reducing inventory while increasing sales. Jay says,“They (the chain stores) offer the most popular items which account for the major percentage of their sales and give up the opportunity to sell slow moving items (which either don’t contribute to profit or do so minimally).” He [...]

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Posted by admin to Small is Cool, nursery, retail on 2008-03-17, 07:52:37

I thought this post has a lot to offer the smaller independent garden center, even though it involves bookstores. Recently Borders cut it’s inventory by 5 to 10% and saw it’s sales increase by 9%. What they did is start placing more of their books on the shelves facing with the cover out, rather than [...]

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Posted by admin to independent, nursery, retail on 2008-03-13, 08:33:03

I wanted to address Jodie’s concerns concerning my last post, Before you start that nursery… She asks, “… what does everyone else do with the dribs and drabs of stuff that doesn’t go? That odd garden stepping stone, or a chipped statue that’s been here gathering dust for 5 years–yes, 5–or more, years.” Why do we [...]

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Posted by admin to Small is Cool, independent, nursery, retail on 2008-03-12, 08:35:04

Just read a great article on the difficulties, and rewards of starting a small retail garden center. The article can be found here at The Green Beam. It follows owner Cliff, who had a dream of starting his own garden center in Alabama. What I found interesting and you may too is how long it takes [...]

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Posted by admin to The Big Boys, nursery, retail on 2008-02-29, 08:03:07

Here is some good news for the people of the Atlanta area who we’re bemoaning the auction of assets of Pike Nurseries. It looks like 400 of the 700 employees will keep their jobs as the stores change hands, but stay open. Here is the part that really opened my eyes. You have heard how retail [...]

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Posted by admin to California, The Big Boys, independent, nursery, retail on 2008-02-28, 08:00:39

Pike Nurseries which went on the action block, has had various assets bought up by several different people and companies. This one caught my attention. Armstrong Garden Centers of California has bought the Charlotte, NC store for over $5 million. They get the right to use the Pike Name as well as some other retail locations and assets.

Armstrong nurseries have been a southern California staple for years. They have begun moving into northern California with the opening of their store in Dublin, in the Bay Area. Now they are moving into North Carolina. Here is a list of all the Armstrong Stores and their locations.

With over thirty-two stores when does an “independent” cross that divide to “chain store”? Is this move to a completely different environment than California a good one for this organization. I have my doubts, but I haven’t been following Armstrong that closely.

Armstrong does seem to be a lot like Pike Nurseries was, so it may be a good fit. Armstrong Nurseries have a generally good reputation from what I can gather, so it’s nice that where there was a Pike Nursery there will now be an Armstrong (Pike) to shop at. I am just wondering about a move outside of the region they have worked for so many years. While the drought won’t last for ever, what will Armstrong do until then? They have to get the store up and running before spring only to stare straight into the face of water restrictions and negative press. It will be interesting to watch.

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Posted by admin to Controversy, independent, nursery on 2008-02-27, 17:52:34

It looks like the drought in Georgia has taken a big toll on garden centers. Pike Nurseries, a $68 million a year chain, and one of the country’s largest independent nursery is going on the auction block. They employ over 700 people between 15 stores and 5 garden centers. According to an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Pike owes $5.6 million to at least 20 lawn and garden businesses across the Southeast, West and Midwest…” According to the paper, “Neal Aronson, of Roark Capital, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a Feb. 1, 2008 story, that Pike “isn’t overleveraged; it doesn’t have a lot of debt. It’s just unfortunate that the drought was out of everybody’s control.”

As I went through the comments at the papers story I found it interesting that some of the commenter’s said it wasn’t the drought, but a combination of things that caused the downfall. Some commenter’s blamed management, others the government restrictions on planting, still others blame Pikes “high prices”. Some took delight saying how they would shop at Home Depot or Lowe’s and not miss a step. One said, “The blame falls on the private equity firm that bought the company from the Pike family a few years ago.” Another said, “They were just not good at being nurserymen. Better yet they didn’t forgot how to play in the dirt. They just didn’t like the dirt.”

Having been through a total ban on planting during a drought here in the 80’s I can say its hard to stay in business under those circumstances. Combine that with what appears to be some management issues and the result is here for all to see. The comment from “employee 16” sums up the whole affair, “6:30 am get to work, turn on over head sprinklers. put money in the registers. open all gates. customers start entering parking lot. the rush of a spring saturday morning kicks in your a pike nursery store manager and the best gardeners in the state of georgia come in to buy the best plants available. I never did it for the money I did it because I believed in who I worked for and what I was selling. There will never be another Pike Family Nurseries. Thank all of the people who gave me a job and truly know what a real nursery can offer. May the horticultural gods bless us all.”