Standing at the crossroads

Wayne Harrell used networking and continuing education to pull The Garden Center out of a rut. Wayne Harrell was no stranger to the family business. He worked for his dad, Gerald, at The Garden Center in San Antonio, Texas, throughout college and again from 1991 to 1998. In 2002, Wayne returned after working at Color Spot Nurseries for a couple of years, followed by a stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in Haiti. But The Garden Center Wayne returned to was much different than the one he left behind.

“When I first hit the ground my dad told me we might have to close,” Wayne said. “He had extended all his lines of credit. He couldn’t pay me for the first three months.”

And so began a sometimes-painful retail rebirth. A process that, thankfully, has resulted in sales tripling since 2002. “We’ve made some big strides,” Wayne said, “I’m happy to say we’re on a good trajectory.”

What brought The Garden Center back from the brink? Continuing education and networking were critical.

Banking on the future
Your garden center is mired in debt, customer traffic is down and the future looks less-than-bright. What do you do? Jet off to England for a tour of top garden retailers, of course.
 
Wait. Huh? What? No, seriously. Sometimes the best way to get out of a rut is to quite literally get out of the rut. Wayne said the tour was a big investment that came at a critical juncture for the business. But it was definitely worthwhile. The ideas he brought back were what he needed to start reinvigorating the store.

“I don’t want to run my business as it has been since 1975,” Wayne said.

It was during the England trip that Wayne first met industry consultant Ian Baldwin and learned about Garden Center University—a program offered by Baldwin and the American Nursery & Landscape Association. The classes sounded appealing. But talk about a time and money commitment! After thinking it over, Wayne ultimately decided to take the plunge. The investment has paid off. A key lesson Wayne learned is “the biggest competition is not the folks down the street—it’s controlling my own expenses.” Today, Wayne checks numbers on a daily basis to gauge the health of the business. “It used to be so ‘fly by the seat of our pants,’ it was crazy,” he said. “You’re trying to make 50 percent gross margin, but failing to take into account all these costs, particularly labor.”

Putting concepts into practice
Another major “take home” from Garden Center University (GCU) is the importance of communicating with your staff. Every Wednesday at 9 a.m. The Garden Center has its weekly meeting. The group will focus on a particular product category and discuss sales points and cross-merchandising possibilities. Wayne has also purchased Baldwin’s “Think Like a Customer” training series, and is working on getting everyone through the course.

As business has improved, Wayne and his crew have been inspired to try new things. Last month, Wayne began co-hosting a gardening talk show on 106.7FM in San Antonio. This fall, The Garden Center hosted its first “Art Under the Oaks” festival. It was an idea Wayne gleaned from a GCU field trip to Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, Calif. “My dad was never one for big events,” Wayne said. “Now we have them all the time. We have children’s gardening classes, we have musicians come in. My vision for the business is not only to make it an awesome company, but also a great place to hang out.”

For more information on Garden Center University, visit www.anlaevents.org/gcu. A new class is forming Jan. 30-31, 2010, at ANLA Management Clinic in Louisville, Ky.