Rick Vuyst oversees operations at Fruit Basket Flowerland, a three-store chain in
Q. What’s your favorite non-garden shopping destination?
A. That’s an easy one for me. Any type of bookstore. You’ll find me there once or twice a week.
Q. What’s the best improvement you’ve made to your garden center in the last five years?
A. The best improvement we’ve made is inventory control. The second best improvement is more covered shopping areas.
Q. Describe your favorite kind of customer.
A. There are a lot of people out there that I call ‘entre-manures.’ People who are willing to try new things but not take themselves too seriously. They try a plant and if it dies, so what?
Q. Name a gardening complaint you’re tired of hearing about.
A. Moles. I have answered questions about them a hundred different thousand ways. I get to the point where I tell people to just name the moles and use them as a tax dependent.
Q. Name a trend you think will be hot in 2008.
A. I would say the hot trend is outdoor living. It ties into the fact people are so time-pressed. In the evening hours they’re looking to enjoy the outdoors.
Q. Describe one of your favorite travel destinations.
A. For the past couple of years we’ve taken a large group of our TV and radio audience to the Butchart Gardens in British Columbia [Canada]. We have so much fun interacting with the people at the Japanese gardens there.
Q. Is gardening one of your hobbies? What else makes the list?
A. There’s no question it’s one of my hobbies. I love it. Some of my other hobbies are American history and music. I love to play my guitar.
Q. Whose advice can you not live without?
A. I have a friend who has an amazing work-life balance. I couldn’t live without his counsel because I say I have horticultural ADD [attention deficit disorder]. I get off track real easily. He has amazing perspective and balance.
Q. Do you prefer TV or the movies?
A. Probably TV. My favorite show is “The Office.” And I’m man enough to admit I watch “Dancing with the Stars.” Part of the reason is I’m a big fan of the host, Tom Bergeron.
Q. Are you a numbers cruncher?
A. If you run a garden center today you have to be one. One thing I check on a daily basis is the weather-to-sales ratio. I also look at gross dollars profit. There’s a constant tug between sales volume and margins. But ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s about profit.
Q. What’s your favorite time of the year?
A. If I’m perfectly honest, it’s July. It starts off with a party, and people seem to be a little more laid back. My least favorite time is December and January.
Q. What do you think are the most important traits for an employee?
A. Three things come to mind: Honesty, an extroverted personality and versatility -- a multitasker.
Q. Name a tech gadget you’re craving right now.
A. People laugh at me because I don’t own a Blackberry. That’s what I’d like to have. I think it could be pretty useful.
Q. What’s the first thing you do when you get to work in the morning?
A. The very first thing is I check my e-mail. I’d like to say it’s walking out in the garden center or something that would make me look good. But checking my e-mail is the first thing I do.
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For more: Fruit Basket Flowerland, (616) 942-0040; www.myflowerland.com.
April 2008