Garden Center heads south: Day 1

Garden Center magazine hit the road and headed down south to North Carolina this week to tour independent garden centers retailers big and small in the area to discover the latest trends in the industry and find out how the season is going. Associate editor Michelle Simakis is driving to different towns in the western part of the state (and one in South Carolina) to meet with retailers and talk to them about their business. Here’s her recap of the first day of her visit:

Most of the first day was spent driving from Ohio to North Carolina, but when I arrived I decided to check out Fifth Season Gardening Company in Asheville, N.C., which opened in 2000 and has five locations around the state. They aren’t a traditional garden center, but they specialize in what are called Urban D.I.Y. categories that some IGCs are starting to pick up. Clint Weninegar, assistant manager of the Asheville location explained the Urban D.I.Y. concept.

“To me it means getting the customer to where they can sustain themselves. You’re not going to the store all the time for your groceries or your eggs. You’re growing your own, you’re eating your own so you know where it comes from,” Weninegar says. “The closer you get to the source of your food, the healthier it is for you. All the products we sell help an individual get to that level.”

Independent garden centers saw the explosion in popularity of edibles and the interest of consumers to grow their own food in the past few years. Fifth Season takes that to the next level and sells everything from indoor growing equipment, hydroponic systems, chicken feed, fermenting supplies and instructions, beer and wine making kits and more. We’ll have more details from this visit and the others soon.

Look for my recap of today’s travels, which include stops to B.B. Barns in Arden, N.C. and  A Growing Concern in Hendersonville, N.C.

Photo: Clint Weninegar demonstrates how easy it is to set up a hydroponic growing system. The store grows its own basil.