Nashville newspaper highlights IGCs

Here's the story as it appeared in the Nashville Ledger.

Warmer weather has arrived, and weekend gardeners have sprung forth along with the roses, peonies and allergies. That means big business for area lawn and garden centers, many of which are decades-old family concerns that, unlike other small businesses, have found ways to level the playing field with their big-box competitors.

Early on, these operators will tell you, they realized it couldn’t be about price. From tomato plants to flats of impatiens, the chains’ national buying power meant that they could always undercut the per-item price a single outlet needs to charge to make any kind of profit.

So the locals ramped up their already-solid customer service, began to use social media to grow their loyal fan base and began dabbling in everything from birdbaths to custom-built container gardens in order to become a lifestyle destination as well as garden and landscaping center.

Free advice, inspiration
For Moore & Moore, the goal has been to offer as much variety as possible when it comes to plants that fare well in Middle Tennessee, but also make personal connections by giving gardening advice and inspiration for free.
“We can’t compete with Home Depot on price, but we’re going to go right up against them on value,’ says Duncan Borders, the grandson of business founders John and Nell Moore, who along with their son Paul opened up shop in 1980.

“We create a different experience for our shoppers. They may pay more here, but they’re going to get better service and higher-quality plants. They also know that our people are experts, and they’re happy to spend time with you if you’ve got questions.”

Moore & Moore operated out of Belle Meade for 18 years, before relocating to Bellevue. In recent years, Borders has added a 5,000-square-foot greenhouse to the site, as well as adding garden and home décor lines. Next up will be a more robust social-media presence, he says, to help solidify his customer base.

“We’ve just hired someone to coordinate that for us, because we have very loyal customers and they pay attention to the things we email out and post on Facebook.

“They’re interested in what we have to offer them, so we want to do that in as many ways as possible. We’ve got that personal touch, and we’ve got stories, so that’s how we’re going to continue to engage people.”
That will include talking up new plant varieties, something else he says smaller shops also can do better than chain stores.

“Our buyers are gardeners themselves, and they are interested in new and upcoming plants, things that will do well here,” Borders says.

Read the rest of the story here.