Cha-ching! (7-20)

Thomas Birt “gets it.” Actually, the owner of Mesquite Valley Growers Nursery in Tucson, Ariz., does a lot of things right. He travels the country and sometimes the world to find plants and decorative items that his competitors won’t carry. He shops trade shows – often those not of the hort variety. He visits retail stores that have absolutely nothing to do with the garden but that have done innovative things in the way of marketing and merchandising that he can bring back to his garden center. Why? Because the “other guys” don’t do all those things – and because his customers notice that he does.

But all that isn’t why Thomas Birt “gets it.” He gets it because he gets out of the way -- and asks a woman to do the buying for the retail shop – all the “fru fru,” anyway, as he puts it. Cathy Bishop has been the sales manager at Mesquite Valley since 1991, and Birt said that hiring her was the smartest business decision he ever made.

“She has that woman’s perspective that is so important,” Birt said. “Without her we wouldn’t be half what we are today. She has a real sense for the female shopper. I can make structures happen, but she gives the nursery emotion. She makes it a more fun place to shop.”

And we all know what a fun place to shop is good for. That's right: Cha-ching!

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