Selling Nature
Selling Nature By Janis Keating

After allowing space for traffic flow, every other square foot of your sales floor is valuable — so it’s important to use it wisely. Great numbers of varied merchandise spur sales; customers will slow down to give your wares increased attention. To display a greater number of items per square foot, many retailers depend upon shelving. However, sterile, rectangular metal shelving units are not always the most aesthetic way of displaying merchandise, especially for decorative items customers will want to envision in their own yards and homes. In addition, buying costly display units shrinks your bottom line, and shelving units may not allow you to arrange SKUs in any arrangement but boring rows. What’s a retailer to do?

Some creative garden center operators have learned that imagination and the placement of natural items enhance their store displays. After all, you’re “selling nature” — why not use it to sell itself?

The Beauty of Recycling

At Nature’s Corner in Cincinnati’s Delhi Township, owners Beth and Tom Oestreicher wanted to give their bird feeder display a more “natural setting.” Beginning with an old wooden shelving unit approximately 7 feet high, they faced the unit with tree bark and topped the crown with decorative bird nests. The resulting effect is much like a large birdhouse.

Beth Oestreicher explains that she and her staff enjoy adding creative touches to their displays, especially when it saves money. “To minimize costs and waste, we recycle everything,” she says. “For example, when the greenhouse across the street went out of business, we salvaged wood, windows and such from there. We rarely buy new wood.”

Recycled wood — and some bright paint — also allows Nature’s Corner to add vertical selling space to its greenhouses. The bold colors of the “ladders” draw customers’ eyes from rows of annual flats to houseplants and decorative plantings. It’s a pretty safe guess that some customer borrowed this ladder idea for her own houseplant display!

After 34 years in business — 19 at the Delhi location — Nature’s Corner has had plenty of time to hone its craft of patron-pleasing displays. Along with decorative interior spaces, its exterior selling space includes “outdoor rooms” which feature bold plant arrangements and statuary.

From Trash to Treasure

Karen and Peter Mezitt of Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton, Mass., don’t allow anything at their facility to go to waste either.

“This past Halloween, we had a half-dozen 6- to 10-foot trees that were slated for the chipper,” says Karen Mezitt, who serves as buyer/merchandiser for the family business. “Instead, we placed them, still in their rootballs, at the front of our stores. To make a display with atmosphere, I spray painted the trees black, draped them with shredded cheese cloth and hung Halloween ornaments, such as ghosts and little bats, on them. It was spooky, and it spurred sales!

“Inside the store, we were selling decorative items for the season — candles, unique goblins, ravens, decorative interior pumpkins, seasonal plant containers and Halloween table runners, which were draped over the trees’ rootballs,” she goes on. “We used antique doors in zigzag patterns, on which we hung our autumn wreaths and garlands. Our goal is to get merchandise at eye level or above. We rarely sell anything that’s still in a package; all merchandise is displayed in a unique way. We rarely buy or use manufacturers’ displays; we make our own, using antiques such as butchers’ tables, boxes and luggage.”

Slices of tree trunks are used to elevate products on sales tables, or the floor.

“In our display cabinet, we have birch log slices instead of plastic risers” to show off merchandise, says Mezitt. “The birch slices are so attractive that we now keep a whole bin of birch pieces because customers want to buy them from us! In essence, we’re making a profit from selling what used to be waste. It’s interesting to see what customers want to do for their own homes.”

Getting Creative

Weston Nurseries has a small interior garden center that needs to be able to showcase both decorative gift items and the core gardening product. “We have to make the most of our space. We have to consider ‘going up’ — vertically — to get everything in. We don’t have the space to have long display tables. This challenge has allowed us to have fun and be creative,” Mezitt says. “We have an antique bakers rack, on which we display pot saucers. This allows the saucers to be displayed vertically, rather than being stacked on a table or the ground.”

Many trimmings, or failed plants, from Weston Nurseries’ 20-acre sales area make their way into displays. “Last winter, we vertically positioned 8-foot, 6-inch caliper birch logs in Christmas tree stands,” says Mezitt. “On the logs, we hung leather sleigh bells, ranging from 6 inches to 8 feet in length, which a local man makes by hand. We tied together 24-inch birch branches with twine to form a ladder, which hung from our ceiling down to the cashier’s counter. Large edible candy canes in various flavors were hung on the ladder to form an interesting sea of color. This allowed the candy canes to be visible to customers, while also minimizing breakage.

“We nailed together 6-foot birch branches in a teepee structure, with vertical branches for stability and function. We hung our hand-knit gloves, hats and backpacks on this structure. We also use a lot of burlap; it softens the display and is great at hiding certain areas.”

Unique uses of plant materials create wonderful merchandise, too. Weston Nurseries has begun making living succulent wreaths. Mezitt explains, “Using a wire cage packed with moss, soil and plastic sheeting, we insert plants right into it. The wreaths are laid down until they root, and then they’re ready for display on customers’ doors.”

Catching Customers’ Eyes

Weston Nurseries also contains a sales area called the “Colosseum,” where customers can find birdbaths, fountains and concrete benches, Mezitt says. “People really like that area. We also have an Asian area, with bamboo fencing and plants, Asian statuary, fountains and wind chimes.”

With such a variety of beautiful items for sale, Mezitt is often surprised at what strikes her customers’ fancy. With Weston’s collection of old household items, other antiques and scrap timber, “another man’s trash is definitely our treasure, when it comes to merchandising AND sales!” she chuckles.

Janis Keating

Janis Keating is a Cincinnati-based freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].