Uncategorized

December 27, 2016

Readying for 2017

Hopefully you had a wonderful holiday weekend and are recovering from way too many Christmas cookies — we have a few more days until our resolutions begin, right? We'll soon be ringing in the new... more »

December 6, 2016

High-Tech Shopping

We hear that brick and mortar retail is changing all the time, and it’s our jobs to figure out what customers are responding to. I became aware of a new grocery store concept by Amazon... more »

November 22, 2016

Shop Till You Drop

The countdown to Thanksgiving is less than 24 hours away. Hopefully you will all have the day to indulge in family and food before those with a Christmas shop might have one of their busiest... more »

November 9, 2016

All in the Numbers

I love numbers, contrary to the jokes that they’re not a journalist’s forte. Without talking politics here — I know better than that — I will say that I was on the edge of my... more »

October 25, 2016

“Fly the W”

As a Chicago resident and lifelong Cubs fan, you better believe that this has been an exciting baseball season. The Cubs are making their first appearance in the World Series since 1945 (game 2 is... more »

October 11, 2016

More Than Mums

There's no doubt your store is looking like fall at this time of the year (and maybe even Christmas is out in full force). We visited a handful of garden centers near Houston, Texas, two weeks... more »

September 28, 2016

A Clear Message

Are you willing to displease two people in your community to get one new customer for life? As I listened to a presentation by Tim Miles of Miles & Co. on Tuesday, this question was... more »

September 13, 2016

Have You Heard?

Have you heard who won the title of Lawn & Garden Retailer's 2016 Merchandiser of the Year? If not, I'm here to spoil the surprise. Top honors go to Distinctive Gardens in Dixon, Illinois, with... more »

August 22, 2016

Tackling Product Overload

How do you decide what products to carry in your store? There are so many options out there. Take for example one of the largest online retailers, Amazon. At recent check, they have 371,064,392 products... more »

August 9, 2016

Going for Gold

The Summer Olympics are in full swing, and I don't know about you, but I look forward to them every four years. Michael Phelps has already added to his historic medal count, but after the... more »

July 26, 2016

On the Road

Summer is a busy time for travel, and between all the garden center tours and trade shows, I return from each trip with a plethora of ideas (that I hope you'll find useful). Text codes were... more »

July 13, 2016

That’s a Wrap

Trade show season is well underway with Cultivate'16 in Columbus, Ohio, wrapping up yesterday at The Greater Columbus Convention Center. Let's talk about two sessions, both with a similar message, that stood out to me. The first was the... more »