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Windham Nurseries 



MANY ROOMS, INTERCONNECTED 



"THERE were good things 

 ^ here," Tracy said. "For ex- 

 W ample, there were three 



collectible lines — Byers' 



Choice, David Winter Cottages, 

 and Dept. 56 Collectibles. For By- 

 er's Choice dolls, there's a waiting 

 list; for Dept. 56, there is a waiting 

 list just for the right to sell them. 

 So we had these exclusive items 

 and a lot of people come to Wind- 

 ham Nurseries to buy them." 



But there were other things too. 

 Windham Nurseries had been 

 going through a period of upheaval. 

 The bank had taken the business 

 from its owner, Don Simons, in 

 1990. Joe Delihunty, who'd owned 

 Windham Nurseries before Don, 

 ran it for the bank. When the 

 business was sold at auction, Joe 

 bought it, then sold it to Doug and 

 Tracy Grattan in November of that 

 year. 



"It was a mess — the lobby was 

 like a warehouse." The merchan- 

 dise — more appropriate for the up- 

 scale clientele of die eighties — 

 wasn't selling. Tracy showed $800 

 figurines gathering dust; Doug 

 pointed out a mature weeping 

 thread-leaf Japanese maple planted 

 in the nursery yard — a fine speci- 

 men, but priced at $7000. (He's 

 now offering smaller (14") speci- 

 mens for $100.) Customer loyalty 

 was faltering — "When we first 



came," Doug said, "there was over 

 $100,000 in gift certificates out; 

 customers wondered if they'd get 

 their merchandise." 



The location is picturesque, 

 with 'Searle's Castle' and Castle 

 College across the street and what 

 looks like a Gothic Revival church 

 — built by Searle for use by the 

 town; now used as a kindergarten — 

 beside them. (The slender wooden 

 tower — holding wind chimes — on 

 Windham's roof echoes the towers 

 around it.) And although water 

 can't be seen from the buildings, 

 the land borders Canobie Lake. 



The business seems to be, at first 

 glance, a series of small specialty 

 shops. There are displays of 

 fountains and pools in the foyer, a 

 greenhouse to the right, a room of 

 bird food and feeders in front of 

 you, and florist and gift shops on 

 your left. Beyond the gift shop and 

 an area that was once the original 

 greenhouse is a garden shop. This 

 L-shaped arrangement of rooms 

 frames a seven-acre nursery yard. 

 Along the edge of the yard is a 

 building for equipment storage, a 

 loam pile (Windham sells loam); 

 and five hoop houses (unused at 

 the moment). 



"There were 25 people on the 

 payroll when we got here," Doug 

 said. "Every department had a 

 manager. No one would help 



anyone else: the gift shop is right 

 beside the flower shop, but one 

 wouldn't help the other." So Doug 

 cut the total number of employees 

 to 13 and the number of managers 

 to eight. Most managers now 

 handle two or more related 

 departments — for example, the 

 flower shop and the gift shop are 

 under one manager and the nursery 

 and garden center are under 

 another. The Grattans have "cross- 

 trained" the staff — people in the 

 florist shop know the prices of bark 

 mulch; the book-keeper has a 

 Christmas tree price list above her 

 phone. People can help out where 

 they're needed. 



Seasonal material — poinsettias, 

 easter lilies, geraniums, mums — is 

 offered, but the Grattans are work- 

 ing to make the business year- 

 round. Henri Studios statuary — 

 accurately detailed life-size deer, 

 smaller animals — was added ("it's 

 selling well"), along with sundials 

 and fountairis. Now there are 

 artificial waterfalls displayed in the 

 greenhouse; in the foyer, a stone 

 pineapple spouts water from the 

 center of its rosette. Pools are also 

 an addition — a "MacCourt Lawn 

 Pond, 'complete with pebble walks 

 and landscaping, is set up in the 

 foyer and Doug's thinking of 

 stocking aquatic plants as well. 



The Grattans have expanded 



18 THE PlANTSMAN 



