Lifestyle Tenant
Calloway’s Nurseries Planning to Grow Like an Oak Tree
by Bryan Sacks
The National Gardening Association published a statistic recently that might come as a surprise to people, given the hustle and bustle of
contemporary life. According to the NGA, 65% of U.S. households participate in some form of do-it-yourself
lawn care, flower or vegetable gardening or landscaping. That’s a huge market. Thus, no one should be surprised that big-box retailers have allotted so much space to lawn and garden care sections. In fact, about two-thirds of all lawn and garden care merchandise is sold by retailers whose main focus is on other areas, like Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wal*Mart.
But in a market this large, there’s got to be room for niche retailers who can do it just a little bit better (or at least, differently) than their giant-sized competitors. Calloway’s Nursery stores is one such retailer whose filling that niche in style.
Calloway’s, a smallish company when compared to the behemoth bi-box retailers they compete with, is the country’s seventh-largest lawn and garden care retailer, and the largest in Texas. Its stores are beautifully appointed, featuring stone archways and garden paths along which customers can stroll slowly as they shop. It’s “experience” retailing at its finest, and it’s beginning to pay handsome dividends.
Calloway’s doesn’t cater its offerings to the most price-conscious shoppers. Jim Estill, CEO for Calloway’s, knows that many people purchase garden products solely on the basis of price. But he also notes that there’s a large customer base, the ‘Martha Stewart’ set, who focus on quality and selection. “She’s built the whole thing on our customers’ type of preferences,” says Estill.
The layout of the nurseries are a response to those preferences, too. At the company’s store on Hulen Street in Fort Worth, plants are displayed along lush garden paths outdoors. Gardening supplies and
accessories can be found in a low stone building and inside a large greenhouse. The store is set up “to make you feel like you’ve walked into someone’s back yard,” Estill said.
The upscale feel is relatively new for the chain. So far, only two of the company’s stores have fully developed the concept, but the company plans to open two stores in Southland and Frisco, where it is currently scouting sites. Plans call for opening at least one of those store by Spring 2001.
To aid its growth, the company purchased Turkey Creek Farms located north of Houston. That company is a plant-growing operation, and it adds to Calloway’s in-house supply chain that formerly was limited to its own Miller Plant Farms near Tyler. The company has no immediate plans to expand into other states, but should the right circumstances present themselves, the company would enter new markets outside of Texas.
“We’re interested in real value, not just a flash in the pan,” says Eskill. Added Dan Reynolds, chief financial officer for Calloway’s, “If it grows like a weed, it probably is a weed. We’re trying to grow like and oak tree.”
For more information, contact John Cosby, Calloway’s Nurseries, at 817-222-1122, Fax 817-654-2662.