More interesting news concerning Home Depot and Hines Nursery. According to Les, “Hines has given all their reps notice that at the end of January they will be let go. Home Depot is going to a program where the merchandising company will manage the ordering at the store level. This is the same merchandising company that regularly confuses agapanthus with hemerocallis or phormium with dietes. At Lowe’s they are going to a computer program for product replenishment and sales reps will no longer be welcome in their stores, much like WalMart did two years ago. How the plant selection at your local WalMart?”
Read the whole comment by Les here. It will be interesting to watch how this all plays out. It seems the only constant these days is change.
Guess that leaves more room for Monrovia’s over priced plants.
Comment by Ferne — January 17, 2010 @ 9:59 am
this news saddens me very much. i work for one of the big boxes, and my heart goes out to all the hines and bordiers reps, some of whom ive known for years. i mourn the loss of so many small independent nurseries that really gave this industry its heart and soul. the ‘american dream’ seems no longer to exist. working hard all your life gets you nothing in the end but the pink slip because there is no end to the corporate appetite. corporate replenishment orders…gimmie a break!
Comment by kat — January 17, 2010 @ 7:09 pm
Well, the big box stores will only have themselves to blame as the customer experience gets worse and worse. At DoLeaf, we expect that people will get more and more frustrated with limited selection and bad information from the big box stores and they’ll go searching for something better. We’ll be there, putting the great selection and experience of local nurseries up on the web where it’s easy to find.
Comment by Micah — January 19, 2010 @ 7:58 am
Open line Friday nite in my nitey you may meet the purveyor of a garden in the sstarlight. Humans are running to Walmart to save themselves with low prices. I wanna be a garden blast!
Comment by Old Kim — January 22, 2010 @ 9:28 pm
Evil monkeys do it cause they’re scary rich humans richer than me. I’ll never have the lowes t price.
Experienced but on the bottom of the retail chain.
Comment by Old Kim — January 22, 2010 @ 9:48 pm
Excellent post - in the long run it should be good news for the hardworking nurserymen and women who are more in touch with current landscaping style and fashion and their customers wants and needs, then an automaton robotic computer ordering system could ever be -
Comment by mark marino — January 24, 2010 @ 11:09 am
Hmm. Nice topic Trey (Not sure what Old Kim was trying to say though!) And here’s another interesting POV from the chief of another big box supplier: http://www.greenhousegrower.com/news/?storyid=2939
Comment by fred — January 24, 2010 @ 8:45 pm
The business model:
1. Sell below cost.
2. go bankrupt.
3. merge with another bankrupt nursery.
4. repeat as needed.
Comment by Don Shor — January 28, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
As someone who started out in the big box nursery section without so much as a clue — I have learned a very important and valuable lesson.
These stores can be useful if you know EXACTLY what you’re looking for and where to EXACTLY find it.
Otherwise you’re going to plant something that will die at first frost. Or — you’ll wonder why that Mexican Lime is producing limes the size of walnuts?
I have learned one valuable lesson after another through trial and ERROR. I’ve done real well on the ERROR part — and still have lots more to learn.
But I don’t enter the big box store nursery “looking for ideas.” When I’m that unsure — off to the nursery I go.
Comment by Bill — February 25, 2010 @ 2:31 pm
we all know the merchandising company will be hiring the old reps of hines and bordiers, and the others will get picked up by colorspot. speaking of which, there is a lot of hines bashing around here, where does colorspot they fit into this. one of home depots corporate buyer is from spot and now they have more product than any other nursery at home depot and lowes, along with horrible reps, for the most part, and horrible selection.
Comment by matt — July 21, 2010 @ 11:40 pm