White Oak Gardens – Grand Re-Opening
by Sid Raisch
Please help us congratulate White Oak Gardens and their entire team on their Grand Re-Opening this weekend.
Jeff and Patty Webeler and their team at White Oak Gardens have been planning on expansion and redevelopment of their property since attending their first Fall Event in Columbia, SC in 2007. At that time, they postponed simple plans to replace an outdated existing greenhouse with a more modern construction on the same footprint, in favor of a more comprehensive project that improves many facets of their operation.
This could be called the garden center that should never have been built, as Jeff Webeler had been advised many years ago by none other than the esteemed Earnest Wertheim at a design workshop he conducted on garden center design. Instead, Jeff forged ahead on the property that was already operating as a garden center despite limited space and rather extreme grade changes. Though the circumstances were difficult the operation was well managed and profitable and survived the ups and downs of weather and economy over the 25 years since the Webeler family took over ownership.
There were many pre-construction phases, such as developing the business acumen of their associates, increasing profitability and equity, acquiring land and tearing down two adjacent structures, and an extensive and exhaustive process of design and approvals. The project would probably not have proceeded if both of Jeff and Patty’s sons, Evan and Andrew had not made decisions to join the family business - someone had to take responsibility for making the payments!
After several construction setbacks and a few weather delays, the greenhouse facility which was built by Rough Brothers is open just in time for spring business. In addition to extensive design work by their local engineering firm, Robert Hayter consulted with the White Oak team on their development plans. The result of the collaboration is that they could remain open for business throughout the entire construction period with relatively minor sales setback. Today the facility is much more functional with better weather resiliency and is more shoppable because of extensive site work including the Great Wall of White Oak Gardens required to level some of the area.
There are still some finishing touches to be completed but they are open and ready for a great spring! We’ll have to wait to get a full report on the results. Please take a moment and send a note of congratulations, encouragement, and maybe some tips to Jeff - [email protected] .
Congratulations Jeff and Team!
Sid
Here's some additional photos to tell more of the White Oak Story...
Jeff Webeler, owner of White Oak Gardens welcomes and thanks those who contributed to the redevelopment at the official Ribbon Cutting ceremony on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.
The facility improvement and construction expands the indoor covered shopping area to over 12,000 sq. ft. and increases the street presence and curb appeal. Expansion of the parking area began several years ago which generated additional profit to help finance the project. At this point a balance of parking space to merchandise is optimized and a neighboring bar provides overflow parking for peak days.
The facility features a lot of moveable walls and roll up sides to provide weather protection, zones for scaling down to smaller size for the winter, and flexibility for optimum traffic flow.
The checkouts are expanded and improved within the pre-existing store space. This allows for less indoor merchandise so the assortment is focused on plant care products and accessories that turn more quickly at higher margins. The company learned after years of trying harder to make home décor and gift products profitable that they would benefit more with focused efforts on the more profitable mix.
One of the associates commented that his favorite improvement is the ramps from the loading dock which make moving product into the multi-tiered facility much less of a chore. After all, you’ve got to move the plants to move the plants.
Extensive excavation was required to maximize the amount of same-level shopping space. The Great Wall of White Oak contains over 3,000 blocks that the landscape crew installed without even one being touched by the owner.
If people only knew, the tens of thousands of dollars that go under the ground to accommodate infrastructure such as a giant water detention tank that now fills this hole in the ground.
Did we say the White Oak Team really likes their home-town baseball team?
