The Long brothers are taking L.A. Reynolds Garden Showcase from a great garden center to a great retailer.

by Bill Calkins, Managing Editor

"When we were 8, we played together in the same sandbox. Our sandbox just got bigger!” It is with this refreshing attitude that brothers Ken and Mike Long are succeeding in growing a destination garden center in Winston-Salem, N.C.

After their father, Jerry Long, retired as CEO and chairman of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., he sat down with them and decided to purchase a local small business. An established nursery since the early 1900s, L.A. Reynolds (not the same “Reynolds” as R.J. Reynolds) had a presence in the market but was in serious need of an extreme makeover to meet and exceed the expectations of today’s consumer. The Longs bought the nursery from an ownership team of three partners in 1991 and immediately began making improvements on the 40-acre site. Mike explains the store has undergone three major renovations since 1995, as well as the opening of a new building in the fall of 1999.

“One of the first things we did was take down a chain-link fence where our entryway is,” Mike says. “This dramatically changed the presentation of the store from a prison to a garden center.”

Then the major changes started. The first new building was erected in 1991 to house home and garden accents. Next came the Garden Shop, a large covered retail area for houseplants, pottery and tools. The final additions in the three-part evolution were the Flower Showcase and Perennial Pavilion, dedicated areas for live goods. The Flower Showcase is housed within three gutter-connected greenhouses and the Perennial Pavilion features wooden pyramidal shade structures, an idea Ken says was inspired by a visit to Platt Hill’s nursery in Chicagoland.

Making A Grand Entrance

	L.A. Reynolds Garden Showcase Owners: Jerry, Ken and Mike Long Location: Winston-Salem, N.C. Size: 40 acres with 6 acres dedicated to retail. Annuals: 12,OOO square feet Trees & shrubs: 35,OOO square feet Gifts: 12,OOO square feet indoors Web site: www.lareynolds.com

In 1999, L.A. Reynolds opened its plaza building, combining all of the center’s checkouts in one area. “The plaza was designed for control,” Ken says. “One entrance, one exit.” After an acceptable “decompression zone” of about 20 to 25 feet, allowing the customers to transition into the store environment, visitors are welcomed by an employee at the greeting counter and information desk. “If Wal-Mart can greet people, there is no reason we can’t,” he says.

There is plenty of space in the plaza for register cues and impulse displays, like Miracle-Gro or other chemicals that don’t stink, Ken says. Of course, parking is important when planning to build or expand a garden center, and the Longs literally carved the lot out of a hill to accommodate 115 cars with overflow parking in a gravel lot around the side of the operation.

But personality must accompany a pretty face, and new structures and a fancy layout do not translate directly to revenue. L.A. Reynolds offers a wide selection of top quality annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs, as well as plenty of events, activities and carefully placed advertising to get customers into the store all year long.

“We are very visible within the community and based on our company mission, we give donations,” Ken says. “In addition to local television and newspaper ads, we sponsor local weather on the No. 1 radio station.” The company has also just started recording a monthly radio show – “In The Garden With L.A. Reynolds” – featuring one of the retailer’s most loved employees, Eva, as well as Ken.

All of these methods are good for attracting new homeowners to the store. And to encourage loyalty, L.A. Reynolds has a “Blooming Bucks” program, learning from loyalty program pioneers like Joe Stoffregen from Homewood Nursery and Garden Center and Eddie Anderson at McDonald Garden Center. The “bucks” are redeemable in June and Ken proudly explains that month’s sales were up about 50 percent from the first year of the program. “We have seen June become our third biggest month,” he says.

Maximizing Peaks
Instead of focusing on driving year-round sales, which may be impossible (or incredibly frustrating at the least), Ken and Mike concentrate on selling more during their busiest times of the year. “Years ago, we tried like mad to get winter and summer sales up, but were not successful,” Ken says. “Instead we try to drive peaks higher, because when peaks go up, the valleys go up, too.”

One thing the Longs did do to help encourage year-round sales is eliminate the word “off-season” from their vocabulary. “We do not call January and February the off-season any more,” he says. “If we say it, the customers will say it too.” This also means L.A. Reynolds eliminated end-of-season sales to help change consumer mindset.

	Choosing Wisely How do you select new products? That is always a good topic of conversation around these circles. We asked Ken and Mike Long to share some of their tricks of the trade. Mike considers the following five things: What’s new, new, new? This is one of the first questions we ask at trade shows. n Does it look like a good fit for our store? Is it a known brand or an extension of a brand? Does it look appealing? Is it something wacky or crazy? We are not all business and stodgy. I hate the word, but, is there a certain amount of whimsy to the product? Ken says when selecting live goods, he usually looks to Southern Living magazine for what is getting consumer play. “We don’t always have to be on the cutting edge, though, because we are in very conservative area.” He cites a comment he once heard in a statement from Dell that the computer giant does not try to be on the cutting edge of technology; rather, the company creates a product based on what customers want.

It is always interesting to hear what is hot in different areas of the country and Ken took some time to talk about what they are having success with and some items they do not offer. He is quick to point out live goods are 60 percent of their business, and annuals are still king. But recently, perennials and shrubs are on an upswing. “Color is the biggest category and I wish we could do more with trees,” Ken says. Pottery and containers are up-and-comers he adds, reminding us the South is a little behind the curve when it comes to trends. At L.A. Reynolds, lightweight and fiberglass containers are in, as well as glazed Asian pottery, and concrete and foam are out.

Ken also explains they do not carry fountains. “I would rather have the high school kid schmoozing Mrs. Jones and carrying her product than mopping out a fountain,” he says. But L.A. Reynolds was one of the first in the Southeast to feature Smith & Hawken, capitalizing on the brand recognition. And in terms of outdoor furniture, Ken says they stick to the smaller items, like bistro sets.

When asked what the brothers are most proud of, Mike responds almost immediately, “It’s simple: How we have evolved since 1991 into the leading garden center in our area.” And the brothers offer this advice to other independent garden center owners and managers across the country: “Keep your margins up! Don’t be afraid to ask for what you deserve.”