The Gardeners Corner Store
'An investment in Garden Centre Excellence'
Being relatively new to the industry, I am often amazed by the stories and history behind some of the places that I visit. A recent trip to the Gardeners Corner Store was highly insightful, inspiring and incredibly interesting. A story steeped in botanical knowledge, inventive business management, and some sound philosophy has helped David & Helen Grodski and the team at the Gardeners Corner Store get to where they are today.
The Gardeners Corner Store (GCS) had been trading in Brighton for 21 years up until the end of June 2008, when they unknowingly at the time, temporarily ceased trading in their present form. The idea of closure came about some time earlier, and was an accumulation of a number of factors. After winning Best Medium Garden Centre in Victoria for 2004-06 they felt that they were peaking as a business, and the desire to ‘step back’ and enjoy life led to the development of a detailed exit plan. This was also coupled with the realisation that difficult times may have been ahead, with increasing water security pressures (looming Stage 4) and a noticeable decrease in the amount of ‘gardeners’ in the area, as those with gardens were hiring the services of maintenance teams. With the retail sales component in the business’ overall profile shrinking, compared to their landscaping team (with fewer gardeners in the garden centre buying plants), the implementation of the exit plan came to fruition.
Having never held a ‘Sale’ in the 21 years of trading, they were now faced with the closure of the nursery, and the need to sell off stock prevailed. This was tackled in a unique way over a period of four months. Having spent 25 years in the industry, David quite understandably decided it was something to be celebrated, and so large signs plastered across their fences were put up stating “Salebrating 20 years”. This created an unexpected frenzy with the public. This came about not only by the positive message which was sent through the celebration of their garden centre, but also through the supply of good quality stock which customers had come to expect from the garden centre. In doing so, as David points out, this creates a Win:Win situation for everyone, which ultimately has positive effects all around – there would have been no point in selling off poor quality stock as this may lead to a Win(seller):Lose (buyer) situation which wouldn’t have reflected well on the business’ namesake.
The important things David learnt about this closure were the following:
- He would encourage anyone to run ‘events’ as opposed to ‘sales’ – you chose the stock, the time, and control the environment, don’t allow seasons and expectations from the consumer to do so.
- As it is an ‘event’, a positive message must be purveyed.
- Ensure you offer a true bargain for the customer and one of the best shopping experiences of their life - and let them know it. This has a strong focus on staff training and providing high quality customer service. Teaching staff ‘What do I have to do to make that customers life better?’ – How do you train staff to be enthusiastic but not pushy?
- If you are in a positive position to do so, obtaining good quality stock on consignment gives you the stronger selling position to push volume without the initial outlay.
Following the sell off of green life, 250 items consisting of the larger ‘props’ and hard landscape pieces were auctioned off by an auctioneer who came on site for the day. Once these items and the last few plants had been sold, the gates were closed.
In the following few weeks, David was invited in as a consultant to assist in finding a new garden centre tenant for a site previously owned by Gills of Brighton. Following a number of discussions, a proposition was made to David to take the site on himself. After 24 hours of thinking about the opportunity, and some phone calls to his previous employees who are now partners in the business, they signed the lease. The following day David and Helen boarded a plane leaving Australia for six months on an extended holiday. With David and Helen now considering themselves as mentors that work on the business and not in it, Cathryn McEwan and John Parish (Managers and business partners) were left to get the new site up and running.
At the beginning of August 2008, they opened their doors to a new era. With minimal capital at start up, close attention to stock turns has played a key role in their overall current gross profit. Having many years of plant knowledge also was significant in getting started. David noted that knowing what plants to buy based on those that will succeed and those that won’t in that given area was incredibly helpful.
David notably made the point that in a small garden centre, it is difficult to stock everything. This is why the Gardeners Corner Store has the ‘5 F test’. Stock being bought must possess three out of five of the following plant characteristics:
1 – Foliage
2 – Flowers
3 – Fruit
4 – Fragrance
5 – Free from Pest and Disease
Re-opening onto a previous garden centre site had two benefits. Many of their old customers rekindled their relationship with the GCS while they also found an entire new customer base – those being the ‘gardeners,’ plant people whose numbers were diminishing at the old GCS.
With a small but strongly committed team, including David, Helen, Cathryn, John, Alyson, Josh and Tim, they are able to make a large impact in what they do as retailers. The Gardeners Corner Store is committed to continual development onsite and also the industry as a whole. David’s desire to see a set level of expected professionalism and quality assurance from the consumer in the future is something I hope we are all striving for, through the accreditation programmes, and our own desire to take that next step towards the bigger picture in retailing plants.
David Grodski & Lost Languages
Having been a practicing doctor for 20 years, David’s friends thought he was mad when he made the decision to open a Garden Centre. Having a family farm, David acquired many landscaping skills, and these combined with skills learnt as a silent partner in a family nursery inspired him to open his own. With his medical history, a sound understanding of plant names gave him the knowledge about plants which today is almost lost – taxonomy. David understood that you could often determine the many cultivation requirements and characteristics of plants, all by understanding some Latin.
For example:
1 – Habit - elatus (meaning tall), palustris (from swampy regions)
2 – Cultivation Requirements – montanum (from the mountains) or rivularis (prefer moist soils over dry), capensis (from the Cape, so plant in the open)
3 – Origin – japonica (originating in Japan) and chinensis (originating in China) – from this you could also determine whether to plant it south/north, east/west facing
4 – Leaf and Flower – multiflora (floriferous and required sun, not shade), alba (white in colour)
5 – History of Cultivation of the plant – people’s names are often used in honour or memoriam. Such as Fuchsia is a tribute to Leonhart Fuchs, a German physician and herbalist.
As David is now in a position that is best described as a business mentor to the Gardeners Corner Store, there is no doubt that there is a wealth of expertise and knowledge which will be passed onto the next generation, with respect to knowing your plants, and developing good business management skills.
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