Grossmans Garden & Home

Website: Grossmans.com

Size: Retail - 3 acres, Growing - 30,000 sq. ft. greenhouse, 15 acres of field growing

Sales Range: $1 million to $2,999,999

Years In Business: 27

Number Of Locations: 1

What changes have you made in the last 12 months to increase your garden center's profitability? Implementation of new point-of-sale system. We reduced the size of the retail nursery to create better efficiency with less space and labor. We reduced inventory on dead items and moved buy inventory management to just-in-time buying. We also tightened wage and wage benefits.

What makes your garden center Revolutionary? We have introduced ways to integrate more biological pest controls into our growing program. This includes both beneficial insects and some of the newer biopesticides. We have had great success using a pheromone lure, Thripher, in our thrips control program. Thrips were our biggest headache last year, but are hard to find right now, and it was done using fewer chemicals more efficiently. Beneficial insects show promise to keep pests under control without chemical sprays, especially where we grow in retail houses. BioWorks, a Victor, N.Y.-based biopesticide manufacturer, has approached us to grow plants for them to use in their research. Their tech people have a lot of lab knowledge, but are looking to increase their real world experience though partnerships with growers. There is great potential here. Both Bioworks and Biobest (beneficials) have expressed an interest in working on POP and marketing materials with us. (e.g., “Our plants were grown using….”) Through eNewletters, Facebook and signage we educated our customers on these beneficial controls, driving huge enthusiasm among staff and customers.