The Wallitsch Nursery advantage: consultants

Wallitsch Nursery and Garden Center in Louisville, Ky., was a typical, mid-century American grower/retailer before Jim and Mary Wallitsch took over the retail division. It had top-notch plants, mostly grown on site, but the retail portion was all about the spring months, after which the store slumbered.

When Jim and Mary took over in 1996, the couple assessed the new acquisition and realized they had a lot to do.

“Jim’s parents had a mom and pop [operation],” Mary said. “They never pursued additional sales in the summer, no activities, just do landscaping. That was where we started to change our focus,” Mary said.

The spring retail employees mostly became landscape and growing employees for the rest of the year, Jim said.

“I had to make sure that retail sales supported keeping employees year round. Stop sharing all the employees. The retail employee didn’t know landscaping,” he said.

The couple began investigating how other stores operated by attending the ANLA Management Clinic, held each year in their hometown, and by signing on for tours of garden centers in the U.S., England and other countries. By 2000, the couple had learned enough to successfully expand product choices and to make sure customers knew they would always find fresh products throughout the year.

“We were starting to do things like signage and color blocking that we had read about,” Mary said. “We needed to be a retail store, a different concept than what we were doing before.”

And by 2000, they knew that they did not understand merchandising enough to go it alone. So they hired a consultant.

Selecting the first consultant

“I guess the main reason I was looking for a consultant, especially at that time, I knew the garden center had to be on a standalone basis to survive,” Jim said.

Two consultants had caught their attention through seminars at the Management Clinic and the Ohio Short Course.

“We had heard both Judy Sharpton and Robert Hendrickson, saw what they were doing, liked what they had to say,” Mary said. “I came from a marketing corporate program -- marketing communication -- and the only retail experience I had was shopping. We knew we had to get someone who had more experience.”

The couple selected Sharpton first. They hired her for her skill in merchandising, but did not cede their authority to her.

“Basically, what we did was bounce ideas and talked and talked and talked,” Jim said. “How wide aisles needed to be -- they were one person wide and people aren’t one person wide anymore. She said they don’t like to brush butts. The cash register layout was always a disaster, we always had lines.”

The Wallitschs wanted advice on store layout and traffic patterns. “We were getting away from the setup my parents had with a more production-type setup, with rows of tables,” Jim said. “What was the best way to get people to buy more?”

Another problem was the checkout area.

“[Customers] were still shopping in line, since the tables were there next to them. Even though they were next in line, they would hold up the line and shop. Not picking up a little thing, they were still full-fledged shopping while they were in line. It’s like being in line in the grocery store and going to grab one more thing,” Mary said.

Sharpton set up four cash register areas where they would be away from the main shopping area.

“It made the lines seem shorter and people could get in and out faster,” Jim said. “Parking turnover was improved too. When people came to check out, they were finished shopping.”

The Wallitschs worked with Sharpton for two to three years. “She came to the store three or four times, and she came for several days at a time,” Jim said.

The Wallitschs were responsible for her travel expenses in addition to her fees.

Once they solved their key problems and had a general layout plan, the couple stopped consulting Sharpton. “It was kind of a master plan we were following along,” Jim said.

A consultant for finances

The Wallitschs used Sharpton in the consultant’s traditional role. Their relationship with other consultants has been different.

The Wallitschs joined Robert Hendrickson’s Garden Center Group, which has a stable of experts available to members.

“We’ve been in the Garden Center Group for about four years, not so much with Robert than with [financial consultant] Steve Bailey. He has helped us tremendously,” Jim said.

The Wallitschs’ goal has always been to be a profitable, year-round garden center. “Steve gave us an assessment of things we were doing originally, and he said we need to get the numbers in place. It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you aren’t profitable,” Jim said.

Bailey urged them to assess their inventory from a financial point of view. “He had us looking at our margins and not buying things just because it’s cute,” Jim said. “We looked at when we were getting product in, too.”

Their point-of-sale system helped track goods and develop budgets. “I can’t imagine not using it now,” Jim said.

One benefit of Group membership is a budget-sharing report. Each member shares its numbers in various categories, and Bailey creates a report reflecting the collective budgets by department.

“We are working in each one of the categories, determining the margins, how they are selling and how they contribute to the overall growth of the company. We were selling items that once you looked them over, it would have been better to not have the item because it didn’t contribute to the bottom line,” Jim said.

One other benefit is that Bailey can add weight to Jim and Mary’s instructions to employees. “I can tell them [about financial rules] all I want, but to hear it from another person, they’ll consider it more,” Jim said.

Using consultants for education

Mary attended Ian Baldwin’s Garden Center University. GCU is held for two or three days at a time, over five different meetings, each in a different part of the country. It’s a management program targeting garden retailers.

The Wallitschs urged other garden center operators not to limit how they use consultants. “You can go to classes and do other things,” Mary said. “We go to the Garden Center Group’s Fall Event, attended Ian’s classes and use Robert’s Group. You don’t have to hire consultants individually.”

The Wallitschs set aside .5 percent to 1.5 percent of annual sales for education, including attending Management Clinic, the Ohio Short Course, other trade shows and touring garden centers.

“We’ll travel to different areas of the country or world and look at other ideas,” Mary said. “I guess, England is probably more helpful, but New Zealand was our favorite! Spectacular. We’re going to Vancouver at the [ International Garden Center] Congress.”

Don’t lose sight of your viewpoint

Consultants aren’t omniscient, the Wallitschs said. “Not everything they say is gospel,” Jim said.

“For instance, the market research says that people go into the store on the left and leave on the right,” Mary said. “That was a disaster for us. We had one door on the left, but no matter how many signs we put up, the exit sign did not work, people were crashing in to each other.”

Jim concurred. “You have to be really true to yourself. What works on paper theoretically, doesn’t work for you,” he said.

For example, the garden center was grandfathered in to its area. “I’ve got to maintain my agricultural status, make sure any additions look like greenhouses to keep that exemption,” Jim said.

“I have to be careful to develop the property and not destroy some of the zoning rules and restrictions we have. Our corporate name has to say ‘Nursery and Garden Center,’ and I want to just use ‘ Garden Center,’” Jim said.

Current projects for consultants

The Wallitschs are in the process of putting in 16,000 square feet of covered space to encourage more year-round shopping.

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“We have no consultant at this point,” Jim said. “Once we have it built, we’ll probably get Robert or somebody to come in and have him look at it. I need to know what I want, then get them to work within that. I can’t be real creative with what I want to do. I have to work around with what I have and make it work.”

Wallitsch Nursery and Garden Center

Owners: Jim and Mary Wallitsch.

History: Jim’s parents, Herman and Mary, opened the business in 1946. Jim and his brother took over in 1996.

Size: 5 acres for retail, 10 acres total (for landscape and growing).

Employees: Full time 10, in spring 25 total.

Annual sales: $1.5 million. Jim and Mary started with $400,000 in 1996. Three years later they made $1 million.

Garden center consultants: Ernest Wertheim, Judy Sharpton, Robert Hendrickson, Ian Baldwin.

For more: Wallitsch Nursery and Garden Center, (502) 454-3553; www.wallitschgardencenter.com.

- Carol Miller

Photo courtesy of Wallitsch Nursery and Garden Center

May 2008