J & G Garden Center: Lawn Care Services Division
ONLINE CASE
J & G Garden Center: Lawn Care Services Division
John and Gloria Weed started a new business in 1986 on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. Their original retail store with greenhouse attachment featured fresh-cut flowers, annuals, vegetables, and perennials. The building is on the grounds of Gloria’s family farm, enabling the Weeds to grow some of their retail products from scratch. Gloria’s parents gave the couple several acres of commercially zoned land as a wedding gift in 1982. The building and greenhouse construction were completed by John with a little help from his brothers. This combination of land acquisition and building construction resulted in very low overhead for the business, which contributed to their start-up success. An addition to the building completed in 1991 included several new and related product lines such as garden tools, soils and mulch products, gifts, seeds, and related accessories. Gloria had earned a horticulture degree at the local community college prior to the establishment of the business. In 1997 she was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of starting a landscape design and installation service that became the company’s next and newest product line. Gloria set up a small studio and office in the couple’s nearby home and was able to acquire some new clients. Her timing was good, as the Columbus area experienced a housing boom during that period. New houses and new developments sprang up in every direction from the city. Their garden center was able to supply the plant materials that each new job required. Soon after, the Weeds expanded their product lines to include a new and wider variety of trees, shrubs, landscape terraces, patios, and walkways as a means to generate new sales and to complement Gloria’s new service line. The original start-up business and each expansion project (building addition, new products, design and installation service) have more than covered their costs, but they have
J & G Garden Center: Lawn Care Services Division
John and Gloria Weed started a new business in 1986 on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. Their original retail store with greenhouse attachment featured fresh-cut flowers, annuals, vegetables, and perennials. The building is on the grounds of Gloria’s family farm, enabling the Weeds to grow some of their retail products from scratch. Gloria’s parents gave the couple several acres of commercially zoned land as a wedding gift in 1982. The building and greenhouse construction were completed by John with a little help from his brothers. This combination of land acquisition and building construction resulted in very low overhead for the business, which contributed to their start-up success. An addition to the building completed in 1991 included several new and related product lines such as garden tools, soils and mulch products, gifts, seeds, and related accessories. Gloria had earned a horticulture degree at the local community college prior to the establishment of the business. In 1997 she was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of starting a landscape design and installation service that became the company’s next and newest product line. Gloria set up a small studio and office in the couple’s nearby home and was able to acquire some new clients. Her timing was good, as the Columbus area experienced a housing boom during that period. New houses and new developments sprang up in every direction from the city. Their garden center was able to supply the plant materials that each new job required. Soon after, the Weeds expanded their product lines to include a new and wider variety of trees, shrubs, landscape terraces, patios, and walkways as a means to generate new sales and to complement Gloria’s new service line. The original start-up business and each expansion project (building addition, new products, design and installation service) have more than covered their costs, but they have