Re: Nursery deaths

**N* S* <N*@PlantSoup.Com>**

Wow, 10 long established independent garden centers in a 20 mile range?  That's way more than we have here in San Diego area!  We were once a mecca for mom and pop growers and nurseries.  Now, there are just a few, and the big box stores.  

Makes me really sad…

On Apr 11, 2012, at 7:20 PM, Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp wrote:

> In central Indiana, there was a spat of garden center closings a few years ago. Growers, though, have taken a hit lately with the downturn in the housing market...no new home construction, no trees sold. A bank called the note on one of the oldest family-owned nursery growers in the area and it had to close.
> 
> Some of the garden centers that closed were in one geographic region of the metro area. One person retired and couldn't sell the place (prices through the roof and in a not so great part of town, state-of-the-art facility, though). One closed in a divorce...it was owned by a guy who loved plants and had been interested in them since he was a kid. That was sad...a state of the art garden center that was disassembled and hauled away, hopefully to be a garden center some where else.
> 
> We have several long-established independents...I can think of 10 off the top of my head in a 20 mile range of my house. Some have multiple stores and if I counted all of those the number would be close to 20. Most are large. A few are small and one specializes in certain plants. One has very sophisticated marketing, wonderful newsletters that have a warm feel and classy look. Their marketing supports and refers back to programs, sales, seasonal info, etc. Very well done. I don't usually shop there because I work for a garden center and have a nursery dealer license, so I don't have to pay the very high-end prices the sophisticated one charges. I do check it out periodically, though. It is in a very affluent section of the metro area. The 50,000 square-foot independent garden center (20,000 square foot greenhouse and nursery area) where I work is in a commercial/residential area and is attached to a hardware store (a Do-It Best). We draw a broad spectrum of shoppers, form !
 tho
> se who only buy flats to those looking for the latest and greatest and we draw from quite a distance, 60+ miles way. The store where I work expanded by about 15,000 square feet last year and a small amount this year.
> 
> jems
> 
> 
> On Apr 11, 2012, at 9:40 PM, Dan Clost wrote:
> 
> The unique character of the nurseries are what drives people to them but
> alas, like independent book stores, they are a dying item.
> 
> Kate  Copsey
> 
> 
> Our nursery has survived and grown, market share and sales, because of savvy
> corporate marketing that matches today's customers' shopping expectations.
> In that sense, it has nothing to do with the product. (which kills me to say
> because I'm a plant person through and through and not a bean counter)
> 
> 
> However, the main reason for responding to Kate and Dwayne is to say that I
> believe the real cost of disappearing nurseries is not measured in dollars;
> it is measured in knowledge.
> 
> Dan
> 
> 
> 
> ____________________
> Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
> Director, Garden Writers Association
> hoosiergardener@sbcglobal.net
> http://hoosiergardener.com
> Phone: (317) 251.3261
> P.O. Box 20310
> Indianapolis, IN 46220-0310
> Co-author, Indiana Gardener's Guide
> Author, The Visitor's Guide to American Gardens
> Great Garden Speakers
> 
> 
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