The True Price of Mulch
As
Charlotte County's economy slowly but steadily grows to match. its
surrounding neighbors, the old shops and stores slowly fall by the
wayside. The new large superstores, from grocery markets to
electronics and television retailers to drugstores
and pharmacies, offer prices and savings most consumers cannot afford
to ignore.
The
exchange, unfortunately, is in service. Practically every business is
affected by the large superstores, even our old favorites. Two of
the landmark nurseries have closed in Charlotte County in .the last
month or so. They aren't alone in the business community, but
how the existing nurseries will survive will be an example of small
business ingenuity.
Service
is the key, of course. If you can't get what you need at a
superstore, then it's back to the neighborhood store for the personal
attention and knowledge you won't find at a store that pays its
under-trained, and often rotated, employees only $6 an hour.
A
recent trip to one of the local superstore garden centers in Venice
found most of the plants wilted from lack of water. Not just a few,
but all the plants in the entire center, There was one young man,
working alone, obviously without enthusiasm or concern for any of the
customers.
When
asked about the poor conditions of the plants, he shrugged his
shoulders and said he didn't normally work in this department. The
regular person hadn't come in that day. Usually, the plants are in
better condition, but it was obvious that one person hadn't done that
much damage to the inventory in only one day of neglect. The price
of mulch at this center, however, was almost $1 a bag cheaper than at
my local I nursery.
This
is a consumer's quandary: It doesn't take someone who loves plants to
sell mulch, but personal service and knowledge about plants is often
only available at the local nurseries. The retail portion of most
local nurseries is running absolutely lean, or even at a loss. By
offering planning and landscape services, in-depth knowledge of the
plants and trees, and bulk materials, several of the nurseries arc
skirting the impact of the superstores.
Knowing
exactly which insecticide can or cannot be used on which plant, how
much water and what kind of fertilizer is required for a plant keeps
customers coming back. Contracting out as landscapers, or as
suppliers to commercial landscapers, has also softened the impact of
a market that is changing as new superstores open to pull away the
shopper looking for $10 worth of plants.
By doing everything from
ponds and waterfalls. to planting large trees, the nurseries fight
the battle that every mom-and-pop shop fights when
faced by the competition of unmatchable pricing. The small shops
simply can't buy their inventories in the volumes to compete with the
big stores, so they must compete on quality instead. The consumer
must know the value of the local shops for them to succeed. It has
to be worth more than a-dollar-a-bag savings for mulch .
George Mindling ©
2001
