Who We Are...

The Garden Center Group (The Group) is an alliance of garden centers, consultants, service providers and preferred vendors who work together creating a community of professionals with one goal in mind...helping each other build successful companies. We believe that the success of The Group is dependent on the success of each participating company.

When you join The Group you'll have access to some of the industry's leading experts on business management issues along with dozens of garden center owners from across the country; centers facing the same business concerns as you on a daily basis.

From marketing to merchandising...budgeting to employee concerns, The Group offers a way for you to develop your business while reducing the time and trials of doing it alone. The secret is knowing just what to do and when to do it, then pulling things together to make it all happen. This is what The Group is all about... helping you achieve your goals one garden center at a time.

The People Involved

The Garden Center Group was created to provide a full-service menu of expert advice that deals directly with the most important business functions facing garden centers today and in the future. We knew that would mean bringing together experts from within the garden center industry as well as professionals from other fields. The result is a network of professionals with specific talents that provide garden centers with the most innovative ideas and solutions in the industry... proven methods that take the guesswork out of important business decisions.

The Garden Center Group's Team of Service Providers

 Group Administrative Staff

Danny Summers, Managing Director

Karen Summers, Client Services Coordinator

 

Business Strategies On-Site Consultation

Robert Hendrickson, Group Founder, Next New Planet

Sid Raisch, Horticultural Advantage, Advantage Development Systems

 

Employee Training & Team Development
Mystery Shop Program

Carl Phillips, Customer 1st, Mystery Shop Program

 

Financial  Management and Analysis

Steve Bailey, Steve Bailey Consulting

On-Site Consultation
Financial Analysis Consultant, The Garden Center Group

 

Human Resources                                                                         

Jean Seawright, Seawright & Associates

Marketing                                

Robert Hendrickson, Next New Planet
Tom Kegley, Tom Kegley Communications

 

Marketing - Integrated Digital                                       

Steve Kendall, The DesignWorks

 

Team Building & Succession

John Kennedy, John Kennedy Consulting


Property Development and Site Design                                        

Robert Hayter, LKC Engineering

 

Media Placement

Mary Gaskell, Gaskell Media

 

Voice & Production Services

Arlene Tannis, Arlene Tannis Voice & Production Services

 

Visual Merchandising                                                                        

Christina Salwitz, The Personal Garden Coach™