This spring, the Green Village Garden Centre in Fredericton closed its doors after 22 years in business. Long a model for others in the industry, the business normally employed 55 during the busy spring season.
Last month, Springvale Nurseries shut down its operations in Berwick, after
holding a massive inventory liquidation sale with over 100,000 plants valued in excess of $1,000,000 up for grabs.
Owner Paul Grimm plans on continuing with their large tree production operation, wholesale and landscape divisions. Attempts to refinance his business left Grimm frustrated. During a CBC radio interview, he described the biggest difficulty as not being able to develop the level of sales volume to make the business profitable.
"The difficulty is the peak garden centre season is so short, they (box stores) open up in early season as do we. The competition is intense and usually ends up with a blow out sale. Trying to be competitive with pricing that's sometimes below cost is prohibitive," he said.
Bob Osborne, owner of Corn Hill Nursery outside Petitcodiac in New Brunswick, continues to draw customers.
"We've taken a slightly different tack and tried to create a destination,” said Osborne.
“We started the business in 1984 and created acres of gardens. We have a store with a cafe, and try to give them an experience rather than just a place to buy plants. It's very important that you glean as many gardeners as possible to come to the store, then have them come back and bring as many as their friends as possible.
“We've always lived on the edge but we've survived. A lot of it is stubbornness, but also we love what we do," he said.
Laurie Jennings operates Masstown Market outside of Truro. He says there isn't one specific reason for their popularity.
"The garden centre is open from Easter to Christmas, product selection certainly varies through this period but physical space is occupied and customers know there is some reason to visit.
“Staff is knowledgeable, able to make suggestions and offer advice. They are willing to get products in that we may be out of or do not usually carry," he said.
Pricing is very competitive, and there are no crazy guarantees or gimmicks, just good quality products at reasonable prices every day. There’s also no end of season clear out that might cause customers to delay their purchases.
New product arrives throughout the season and many plant materials have seasons where they are more or less in demand. The owners think seasonally - for instance - during the fall season, fall flowering and fall colours sell best when people see the plant in the landscape.
“All that being said, it’s not easy,” concluded Jennings.
