Open Register

Open Register has a new home!

Open Register has a new home! Visit the blog section of the new and improved Garden Center web site for all the news, tips and tidbits you've come to expect from Open Register.

C'mon over! We look forward to your visit!

Lawn & Garden Marketing and Distribution Association disbands

The Lawn & Garden Marketing and Distribution Association announced plans to disband earlier this week. According to a statement issued by LGMDA, the almost-40-year-old group had “insufficient support and funding to carry out its mission” due to changes in the channel. The dissolution takes effect June 30.

A portion of LGMDA’s remaining funds will be returned to current members. In accordance with the association’s bylaws, funds remaining after all bills are paid will be distributed to another nonprofit organization. The board selected the Barbara Hauf Cancer Foundation as the recipient of the remaining funds.

-- Sarah

April retail sales show few signs of economic rebound

April retail sales show people continuing to cut back on their discretionary spending. According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales for April (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) decreased 0.4 percent seasonally adjusted from March and dropped 1.7 percent unadjusted over last year.

April retail sales released last week by the U.S. Commerce Department show total retail sales (which include non-general merchandise categories such as autos, gasoline stations and restaurants) decreased 0.4 percent seasonally adjusted over March and decreased 9.4 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

“A depressed labor market and lack of consumer confidence continues to play a role in what people buy and how much they spend,” said Rosalind Wells, chief economist for NRF. “Noticeable changes in consumer spending will take some time as the economy continues to rebuild itself through the rest of the year.”

-- Sarah

Mahoney’s Garden Center approached by developer

Mahoney’s Garden Center, an 8-store chain in Eastern Massachusetts, has been approached by a developer interested in buying the retailer’s Wayland, Mass., location, MetroWest Daily News reported.

The developer eyeing the tract hopes to build an assisted living facility there. Tom Mahoney, a partner and son of the founder, would not name the developer, and said he made an agreement with the company not to release further details. He is now waiting to hear back from the developer.

-- Sarah

Midwest, CBK announce merger

Midwest, designer and manufacturer of Colonial Candle and Seasons of Cannon Falls products, and CBK Styles, a leading wholesaler of home and garden décor, announced plans to merge yesterday.

The combined company will be known as Midwest-CBK and will operate out of offices and manufacturing plants in Cannon Falls, Minn.; Elkin, N.C.; Franklin, Tenn.; Hong Kong; Shenzhen, China and Union City, Tenn. Blyth Inc. will remain the parent company of both organizations.

-- Sarah

Debate continues over high credit card interchange fees

Let’s get the obvious questions out of the way: What the heck is an interchange fee and why should you care?

Here’s a good somewhat-simplified explanation from Wikipedia:
Interchange fee is a term used in the payment card industry to describe a fee that a merchant’s bank (the “acquiring bank”) pays a customer’s bank (the “issuing bank”) when merchants accept cards using card networks such as Visa and MasterCard for purchases. In a credit card transaction, the card-issuing bank in a payment transaction deducts the interchange fee from the amount it pays the acquiring bank that handles a credit or debit card transaction for a merchant. The acquiring bank then pays the merchant the amount of the transaction minus both the interchange fee and an additional, smaller fee for the acquiring bank.

The moral of the story? It’s money coming out of a retailer’s pocket—approximately 2 percent of each and every transaction’s value. High interchange and other card-processing fees are the reason why my favorite Thai restaurant won’t accept cards for purchases less than $10. The costs of processing the transaction completely erode their profit margin.

I’ve been following the debate swirling around interchange fees for some time now. Here’s a column I wrote about it back in September 2007. But things haven’t quieted down since then. In fact, I’d say the furor has become even more intense.

Check out this story from WOWK, a CBS affiliate in West Virginia. It prompted a small-business owner to leave a comment that most retailers can relate to…

I work in an office of a local drive-train rebuild shop. When we accept a credit card they take 2 percent of the bill right then and once a month they charge a fee just because we accept their card; this all comes to a [loss] of approximately 20 percent of the invoice. We are considering a credit card fee of 20 percent of invoice to offset the charges the credit card companies are charging us. Think about this: 90 percent of our invoices are over $1,000. That means the credit card companies are taking $200 of every $1,000 we invoice.

Progress has recently been made in the European Union to scale back interchange fees. MasterCard Worldwide reached an agreement on April 1 with European competition authorities to reduce credit card interchange fees to 0.30 percent and debit card fees to 0.20 percent, according to the Food Marketing Institute (FMI). This is down from 0.80 to 1.90 percent and 0.40 to 0.75 percent respectively.

Here at home, the House of Representatives plans to vote this week on H.R. 627, the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. According to FMI, Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Rep. Bill Schuster (R-PA) are going to offer an amendment during debate about the bill to try and address interchange fees. FMI is urging its members to contact their representatives and voice their support for such a measure.

We’ll see how things shake out. I do know this: There are gobs of surveys and studies showing that consumers will be using plastic more often for purchases—big and small. Young Americans, ages 18-25, are more likely to use debit cards than any other payment type. I don’t expect these habits to change. And as more of them begin to frequent your garden center, your cost of doing business is going to go up.

-- Sarah

Tennessee garden retailers report robust business

The garden business is growing in Memphis, Tenn., according to an article in Memphis Commercial Appeal. Two new garden centers have opened, one business that downsized earlier this year decided to keep its second location open, and a wholesale operation has started selling to the public. Store owners are banking on people staying home more this summer, and choosing to beautify their landscapes.

-- Sarah

Hines announces management team and name change

Hines Horticulture, which was purchased in January by a privately held asset management firm, will now go by the name Hines Nurseries, according to a statement issued by the company. A new management team has also been put into place: Bob Sands, president and CEO; John Krajanowski, chief operations and production officer; Claudia Pieropan, senior vice president and CFO; Mike Trebing, senior vice president—sales & marketing. All four have extensive backgrounds in the nursery industry.

-- Sarah

ANLA member attends White House town hall meeting

The American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA) participated in a town hall meeting with President Barak Obama yesterday. Member Gary Blondell, owner of Gary’s Gardens in Severna Park, Md., represented ANLA at a meeting in the East Room of the White House.

“It was an exciting opportunity to be actively involved in ANLA’s legislative efforts. I don’t have to look any farther than the nurseries whose plants are critical to my business’ success, to recognize that these issues directly impact my bottom line,” Blondell said.

During the meeting, President Obama addressed questions that were submitted over the Internet in addition to several questions asked from audience members. Mr. Blondell was briefed before hand on ANLA’s current efforts to shift recognition for the value of plants beyond solely ornamental appeal to the environmental services they deliver, such as energy savings and carbon sequestration.

“Gaining recognition that plants deliver ecosystems services, measureable in hard dollars just like Energy Star appliances, represents the next frontier in increasing both the sales and profitability of plants and the managed landscape,” said Corey Connors, ANLA’s Director of Government Relations.

-- Sarah

Tell us your “innovation” story!

Garden Center Magazine is on the hunt for this year’s Innovator Award winners. We want to hear your story! Have you launched a unique marketing campaign? Have you introduced a sustainability program? Are you using technology in new, exciting ways? Share your out-of-the-box ideas with us! Drop a line to editor Yale Youngblood.

-- Yale