Are hard goods a hard sell?

When I’m in a plant buying mood, the first place I head is to my favorite independent garden center. But if I’m searching for hard goods or bagged goods I always end up at a nearby big-box store. Why? Because when it comes to these items the mass merchants have better prices and a wider selection. At least in my neck of the woods.

Case in point: The husband and I started rehabilitating our front flower bed this weekend. I wanted some plain black plastic edging to keep the Bermudagrass from intruding. (It’s a losing battle, I know. Just humor me, OK?) I knew exactly what I wanted. The flexible kind that comes in a big roll.

I went to my local garden center and, of course, they didn’t have it. They had something kind of similar, but I would’ve had to buy two rolls and spend a lot more than I intended to. So, I headed over to Lowe’s and got exactly what I wanted and spent less than $30.

Still, I felt bad. I really want to patronize local independent businesses. But when you’ve got two small children and a tight budget, price tends to trump everything else.

I’ve talked to plenty of garden center operators who say they don’t try to compete with the big boxes on price -- particularly when it comes to hard goods. Everything gets the normal markup. Some customers will go ahead and pay the price, others will go elsewhere. That’s just the nature of business.

What’s your strategy? Does your selection of hard goods mirror what you’d find at big boxes? Are prices similar? Or do you do your own thing? What are the pros and cons of that approach?

-- Sarah

Comments

[k. parkinson]

Our area of the country must be different! If you truly compare the coverages and thicknesses of the products, our locally owned garden centers exceed the product quality and are competetive if not less expensive for the product. Yesterdays ads show rock products being 40% more expensive when they are on sale than the local garden centers. Be sure you compare apples to apples in the edging market. What is the size of the edging, does it come with both enough stakes and connectors? commercial flat edging is a much better product than any edgin that comes in a roll. Take the time to do the math!

[Cliff Street]

I travel alot and own a small Garden Center. What you describe is true most Independents have to focus on profit rather than volume sales. The big boxes are the opposite. Most of the manufactured products are made in China and the OEMs dont offer the same products especially the same pricing to independents. Larger Independents who are in Buying groups are able to compete with the Big boxes and usually have as deep and as good or better pricing and selection.

[T. Warren]

My husband and I own a Garden Center in S.E. Mo.in a mainly rural area. Although only 6 minutes away from a city of about 40,000. We have almost every "box" store you can think of and atleast 1 Walmart every exit off the interstate for a 50 mile stretch. We also try to keep a tight budget as we have 4 sons to feed. Trying to compete with Lowe's and Walmart on price is futile. We instead concentrate on as high of quality as we can find,unusual varieties,and still at a reasonable price, but top quality and healthy plants come August is what we're about. I get more comments than I can count in late summer about how nice our stuff looks compared to everyone else. Box stores as well as the 6 other Garden Centers around. We're not big by any means, nor is everything perfect, but it is our priority to keep things as close to perfect as possible. Apples to apples pricing like someone else said, is important, but most people don't realize how different things are.

[T. Warren]

My husband and I own a Garden Center in S.E. Mo.in a mainly rural area. Although only 6 minutes away from a city of about 40,000. We have almost every "box" store you can think of and atleast 1 Walmart every exit off the interstate for a 50 mile stretch. We also try to keep a tight budget as we have 4 sons to feed. Trying to compete with Lowe's and Walmart on price is futile. We instead concentrate on as high of quality as we can find,unusual varieties,and still at a reasonable price, but top quality and healthy plants come August is what we're about. I get more comments than I can count in late summer about how nice our stuff looks compared to everyone else. Box stores as well as the 6 other Garden Centers around. We're not big by any means, nor is everything perfect, but it is our priority to keep things as close to perfect as possible. Apples to apples pricing like someone else said, is important, but most people don't realize how different things are.

[June]

what is the normal markups for garden center hard goods?