The goal of this lens is to discuss the ups and downs of having your own small nursery or garden center. There is little information available for someone contemplating opening and running a garden center. It’s a career choice that lots of people contemplate but only a few take on, and even fewer succeed. It’s a business of patience and hard work, which is not very popular these days. ... http://www.squidoo.com/nurseryperson Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:00:32 -0600 FeedCreator 1.7.2 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:25:27 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/nurseryperson The goal of this lens is to discuss the ups and downs of having your own small nursery or garden center. There is little information available for someone contemplating opening and running a garden center. It’s a career choice that lots of people contemplate but only a few take on, and even fewer succeed. It’s a business of patience and hard work, which is not very popular these days. We will focus on the small garden center since that’s where most new ventures start. It’s also where the real action is when it comes to the nursery business. The larger concerns are busy homogenizing their shopping experiences, while the smaller centers can be more outlandish and experimental. Putting in a coffee bar or pet center in a garden center is not new and is already becoming main stream. Small garden centers can be more unique and less mainstream, thus attracting those consumers looking for a more unique and satisfying shopping experience. These consumers are generally willing to pay more for that quality experience. My wife and I run a small, 2 acre garden center with seasonal help. Our latest venture, The Golden Gecko Garden Center just celebrated its third anniversary. We are building a “destination garden center” that not only services the local community but looks to attract people from further away. My experience comes from working as a nurseryman for 28 years. I got my start driving the delivery truck at Christensen’s Nursery located on the San Francisco Peninsula. I have managed or owned three different nurseries in the foothills of The Sierra Nevada Mountains. Be sure to check out the direct feed of my blog below. "The Blogging Nurseryman" was the first industry blog to deal with running a small garden center.   In case you’re wondering we will consider a small garden center or nursery to be one that has sales of less than one million dollars a year. Sound daunting? Let’s get there together.   Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:25:27 -0600