Open for business

When I switched gardening hats and moved to this position last spring, I realized early on that one daunting task facing our staff was a challenge with which all of you are familiar: finding the best way to stand out from the crowd. While this is as cozy an industry as you'll find, full of good-hearted, good-charactered folk who work and play with equal abandon, it's still a marketplace marked by one's ability to marry supply and demand better than does the guy down the street.
 
You've no doubt spent some sleepless nights trying to figure out how to parlay “the next big thing” or the “Look Here!” display or the “best customer service in town – no, we really mean it” into a competitive advantage. Some of you have managed to master the parlay and have shifted into “sustain” mode. Wherever you are in the mix, there’s never a shortage of mixing that goes on as you hone a recipe designed to attract, nurture and keep customers.

For the past nine months, we at Garden Center magazine have been doing our share of mixing, as well. And now, what we’re taking out of the oven to put on the table for 2010 is something that we believe you'll find quite "tasty."

For starters, there's the starting page – our cover. We actually went with the illustration idea this time last year, the hope being that you’ve had your fill of convention and would appreciate something different or fun. Following a recent reader survey we conducted, we are delighted to discover that you agree with our notion – and that you’ve given a big green thumb’s up to our first innovative move.

Let me introduce you to some others. This year’s GC is founded on one premise: Every article, feature, illustration or proverbial “other” is included to either make you money or save you money. Wow, what a concept – a business-to-business publication that actually emphasizes business!
 
Of course, first and foremost, you’re in the plant business. Starting with this issue, we’re putting a heightened focus on the most important element of any garden center. Each issue will show you new plants and hot plants and reliable plants – along with ways to better market and merchandise them at your store. Our hope, again, is that you turn those two Ms into two others: More Money.

Finally, I encourage you to turn to our new back page, “This ‘n’ Data.” There you'll find fun, fast information that will not only entertain you but help put you in a better position to succeed. Or, at least, help you stand out from the crowd.

Of course, you could argue that they’re one and the same. In fact, we’re not just arguing that point. We’re building our magazine around it.