In the past we have talked about Hines Nurseries, at one time the largest nursery in the country. I was checking out GreenhouseGrower.com when I came upon a discussion started in April 13th of this year, concerning the new management team at Hines. If you remember, Hines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last year. “The Blogging Nurseryman” was the only source of information on what was happening at Hines pre-bankruptcy at the time. My post and the comments were made in August 10th 2007, long before the most knew the bankruptcy was coming.
The greenhousegrower.com post is an interesting read. If the mood of the anonymous commentator’s are any indication, Hines has a long way to go to regain the trust of it’s former suppliers and customers. The post also includes a quote from Mike Trebing, senior vice president of sales and marketing. According to greenhousegrower.com Mike say’s “‘As a company we are returning to our core values and business philosophies which the company has been built upon over the last 90 years,’ Trebing says. ‘As an outcome of the bankruptcy, Hines has emerged with one of the cleanest balance sheets in the nursery business. During these challenging economic times, that flexibility will help Hines rebuild its operations and inventory.’”
I love this comment from anonymous, “Unbelievable, this guy is bragging about having one of the cleanest balance sheets in the industry. Wouldn’t we all like to have all our debt just disappear? However, this is at a horrendous cost to suppliers who were just discarded. Are these same suppliers going to do business with them? Experience?? Why should this team, whom all come from companies that they helped bankrupt–Bordiers, Hines, and Powell be expected to do anything different? They can continue doing the same things that bankrupt their respective companies now that their debt load is gone.”
Wow!
Trey,
Wow is right. What interests me about the comments made on the greenhouse growers website is the fact the comments are all made by anonymous people. I read somewhere recently (may have been Seth Grodin) if you are going to say something on the internet, put your name behind it. I am not on the west coast and not in the thick of things but I can’t imagine doing business with a company that made my bottom line a lot harder to handle. Companies had to absorb those costs of millions of dollars.
The question remains: does Hines deserve a second chance?
Comment by Lynne Phillips — December 3, 2009 @ 6:40 am
Nay. They had their chance and blew it cause they liked money more than plants. Monrovia might be next. Theyv’e spent massive bucks on clean plants.
At the bottom of the plant purveyers’s chain are holdouts that get enough to survive.
Comment by Old Kim — December 5, 2009 @ 10:55 pm