The Plantsman 



From the Board, cont'd. 



Garden Center University, Class of 2006 



Beth and Rick Simpson, Rolling Green Nursery 



Session Three, (January) was held 

 in Atlanta, to correspond with the 

 Atlanta Giftmart. I didn't schedule 

 enough time to see the whole Giftmart 

 show and not being a big shopper, 

 was thankful we only had time to 

 visit the 2-3 floors of the Gardens. I 

 was coached by my friend Ed from 

 Stauffer's of Kissel Hill, one of their 

 hardgoods buyers, whofs responsible 

 for 6 million dollars in inventory. I 

 made contact with a couple of new 

 vendors which made the trip worth- 

 while. 



In this session we reviewed the fis- 

 cal thread, marketing and promo- 

 tions budgets, human resource and 

 merchandising. After knowing our 

 classmates now for three classes, the 

 dialogue and sharing was eye-open- 

 ing and excellent. We all came away 

 with action plans for the coming 

 season. 



Session Four (July), was held in 

 Freeport Maine. Outstanding field 

 trips to Scott Longfellow's Garden 

 Center in Manchester Maine and to 

 L.L. Beans made this a very targeted 

 merchandising event. L.L. Bean's 

 merchandising team takes two weeks 

 to do their seasonal changeouts store 

 wide. And the entry level pricing of 



some of their products was a great tip 

 to share back on the homefront. 



Classroom time was again an in-depth 

 spring review, updating our marketing 

 plan to reflect a changing market- 

 place, how 'open to buy' works in the 

 budgeting process, human resource 

 and personality differences, and an 

 Intro to the business plan and action 

 plans to take home. 



Between Freeport and Session Five, 

 Rick and I identified that we needed 

 help priortizing our next projects. Gar- 

 den Center University Professor Ian 

 Baldwin came to the rescue. Spending 

 1 1/2 days with us we now have a man- 

 ageable action plan for Rolling Green 

 for the next 3-5 years. 



Ft Lauderdale and Session Five: 

 (January) This session is scheduled so 

 attendees can visit the TRIE, or tropical 

 plant tradeshow. Now really com- 

 fortable with our class mates we did 

 some outstanding exercises in inter- 

 viewing and job reviews. The review 

 of business management, merchandis- 

 ing and marketing was all part of the 

 classroom work. In the Business Plan 

 unit: several of our classmates are 

 facing big investment projects in the 

 next couple years. The feasibility and 



payback requirements were explained 

 and reviewed. It certainly made some 

 of those decisions more realistic. 



Our graduation on Ft Lauderdale 

 Beach was fun and serious- we all 

 know the hurdles we have ahead : 

 staying ahead of the trends, weather, 

 labor management, fuel and weather. 

 I really hope we will cross paths with 

 this great group of people in the years 

 to come. 



For those of you that work with 

 your spouse, Garden Center Univer- 

 sity makes the work process more fun 

 in a roll- up- your- sleeves- and- get- 

 those- numbers- challenging way. It 

 has made us really look at inventory, 

 where we make money and how we 

 manage our company. Rick and I start- 

 ed GCU after the very difficult 2003 

 season. We knew that we needed help 

 to be able to adjust and be profit- 

 able despite the rain. We encour- 

 age you to seek the formulas to help 

 you succeed. ANLA has printed an 

 excellent brochure for Garden Center 

 University. Contact Amanda Flynn at 

 202-789-5980 x3010 or aflynn @anla. 

 org. Let us all say a prayer for sunny 

 weekends in 2006. ♦ 



April/May 2006 



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