Grower News

The Top 100 – The Top 100: No. 51 | Countryside Flower Shop, Nursery and Garden Center Find out how this Illinois IGC carefully curates a positive experience and gives its customers reasons to keep coming back. Subscribe #51 ON THE TOP 100 LIST Countryside Flower Shop Nursery and Garden Center will celebrate its 60th year in business in 2020 and Marcy Cronin has been there for 27 of those years. The Crystal Lake, Illinois, IGC typically has about 100 employees during the busiest time of year and reported sales of $6.25 million for 2018, placing them at No. 51 on our list. We asked Marketing Director Marcy Cronin about the secrets to this IGC’s success. Q.What sets Countryside apart from other garden centers in the area? A. Our product selection. We grow the majority of our annuals, our poinsettias, our mums, our vegetable plants. Laurie Harms — she’s our grower and manages the greenhouse and then her staff. Pam runs the perennial operation; Michael does the roses. Everything’s grown here. What we don’t grow, we make sure we get from all the other suppliers like Bailey and Monrovia. We make sure the material that’s coming here is quality. Our buying team, Patty Braglia, Kerri Arthur and the owner, Richard Harms, provide a nice mix of items here for people to choose from and new products for sale. Our staff is what carries us through everything. Other than the young kids that come in from high school for a part-time job and stay with us until they find their career, I don’t think there are any of us that have been here for less than 10 years. And I think our customers recognize that because they stop you in the grocery store and say, ‘Hey, my tree’s doing this, what’s up with that?’ We know the product, we know the company, we know what services we have to offer. PHOTOS COURTESY OF COUNTRYSIDE In winter months, Countryside times educational seminars with indoor plant sales so attendees can get out of the cold and enjoy the greenhouses. Picking out an […]

Source: www.gardencentermag.com