GCA Summer Tour: Final day!

It was a fantastic finish to an action-packed tour. The day started out at Otten Brothers, a family-owned garden center that has been in business for 54 years.

Otten Brothers is undergoing a facelift, of sorts. The company is introducing a fresh, new logo that emphasizes its areas of expertise. They’ll also be doing some remodeling in the near future.

101 Market was our next stop. This business is celebrating its 10th anniversary. They’re also coping with major road construction that’s expected to go on for another two years.

101 Market had some of the most inspiring displays I’ve seen on this trip. Take a look. These statues fit in perfectly with the airy, dreamy plant material on display.

Noble Landscape & Garden Center is a 30-year-old business that’s been in its brand new building for two years. If I had to describe this store in one word it would be “shopable.” It has wide, covered aisles offering easy access to all areas of the plant yard. At practically every corner there is a fantastic vignette display.

And here’s a really cool feature of this store. A garage-type door opens up to expand the area devoted to landscape demonstrations.

Next up was Mickman Brothers. Like the caboose? During the store’s infancy, it was used as the checkout area for the entire facility.

Around 50% of Mickman Brothers' business comes from its wreath-making enterprise. More than 500,000 fresh evergreen wreaths are created and shipped each year.

Linder’s Garden Center was the last stop of the day. Linder’s has one main store, but sets up temporary pop-up garden centers in parking lots throughout the Twin Cities during peak season.

Linder’s was another retailer using technology to inform and educate. The gift area featured two computer kiosks. One was running a display of landscape ideas. Another was an information center in the birding area, connecting customers to a vast bird ID database.

As a grand finale, attendees got to tour Bailey Nurseries' vast container production facility and gardens at Nord Farm. They also hosted a rousing closing dinner, where we learned more about the nursery’s Trees are Cool initiative.

And there you have it, folks. Three whirlwind days, a ton of new ideas and some of the best networking you’ll ever experience. I strongly urge you to attend an industry tour. I know you’ll find it to be a great investment. And Garden Centers of America is offering two chances for you to get out and see the retail world in the near future. The upcoming holiday tour will be held in Boston in November. You can get more details here. Next summer, the GCA crew will be visiting North Carolina. Hope to see you there!

-- Sarah