An interview with Miles Rosedale, CEO of Monrovia Nursery
Here is an interview that Ken Druse of Real Dirt had with Miles Rosedale, CEO of Monrovia. The interview really does not tell us anything new. Miles says they would not sell the branded plants to the box stores, but the quality would be equal to what is in the branded containers. So the box stores would have equal quality, but in plain black containers. As Ken say’s, it sounds like they are going to sell to the box stores. I still don’t see how this can be anything but bad news for the independents that have supported Monrovia.
Looks like the same tune Scotts sung many years ago to the small retail nursery buyer.
What was striking about that interview is what Miles did not say. He sounded very tired of the whole thing. I suspect that this crisis will lead him and Monrovia out of the nursery business entirely within the next five years. They will do the box store thing for a while and barely string the independents along getting as much as they can out of them until the faucet runs dry.
Investment groups see blood in the water now. The company first will be downsized drastically, then it will be broken into pieces. Next, the brand will be compromised and eventually disappear under a different ownership group.
Perhaps, as in the case of Harley-Davidson when they were in real trouble, people (perhaps the employees under their ownership) will re-invent Monrovia and get back to what made them successful, a company sized right for the independents and contractors
Miles is not getting any younger and I believe that he might find this his opportunity to look for other fish to fry.