Sunny Ray's Nursery, LLC

One topic was prevalent everywhere… the economy.  While it is a scary time and uncertainties abound, this does not mean one needs to throw up their hands and quit. Now is the time to think critically about your operation.  Identify areas of high cost to your business and search for ways to reduce them while maintaining the same quality.  Too often people reduce costs to the point of losing the integrity of their product. 

Through discussions with garden center owners and landscape contractors, I have a philosophy that garden centers will see an increase in sales for 2009.  I am not an economist and really have no authority to make such proclamations, but it makes sense in my head.  When Mom and Dad do not have the money to take the kids to Disney World, they stay at home and stare at their landscape.  They still have some disposable income and decide to update their plantings themselves.  This is the point they walk through your business in search of that perfect plant.

The above thought is why garden centers need a diverse selection of high quality plants for spring.  Guess what, SRN can help you with that! 

Ironically, today I was speaking with Joe Ray, general manager of Tankard Nurseries in VA, and he retorted the same predication.  Hopefully we are both right.

The other significant issue that arose regularly was freight.  Many individuals were searching for suppliers closer to them.  While the price of fuel has dropped, everyone knows it will not stay there forever.  The key to effectively reducing freight cost is to not compromise the quality expected to receive in lieu of location.  It is worth an extra dollar per plant to get the plant material in your business that will draw the customers.

Another way is to buy from SRN!  We are centrally located in the state, our quality is great and we can deliver to your store multiple times throughout the season with little                                                         cost incurred.