Check any houseplant group online these days, and you’re sure to hear about someone grabbing a rare specimen at Home Depot or Lowe’s, while photos showing dying plants found languishing in big box greenhouses with pleas from group members to come help rescue them. Yet these people likely do not realize how their posts may harm local greenhouses, plant stores and nurseries by sharing such news publicly.
Note that these stores do not pay for the plants they carry; thus they do not lose money if these don’t sell. Instead, they receive them on consignment from growers with whom they have special arrangements; any plants which die, become infested, or experience other issues can simply be disposed of without incurring costs to the business compared to independent greenhouses and nurseries, where every lost plant incurs costs to do business.
Angle Acres, family owned and operated in Western New York since 1977, will open its doors for business this Saturday 11/27 for the first time since the pandemic started (please see photo at top for another view of Angle Acres). (Click image to enlarge.)
Plants are used by big box stores as loss leaders to draw customers in. While they offer cheap plants as loss leaders, profits come from higher ticket items instead. People may enter through the greenhouse but typically end up wandering into hardware aisles instead.
Big box stores attempt to undermine small businesses by dominating the supply chain. Since Lowe’s and Home Depot can purchase at an exponentially larger volume than independently-owned businesses, suppliers prioritize getting product to them first. When someone comes into a greenhouse or nursery asking for merchandise they haven’t received yet, the big store may quickly step in as an alternate source and steal customers away.
Not to be outdone, large suppliers continue their preference for larger volume orders. A couple years ago, black Zamioculcas zamiifolia (shown above) made its debut onto the market through big box store growers that registered the plant as ZZ Raven and only made available exclusively through big box stores – any independent retailer or individual trying to sell this plant would face lawsuit.
Home Depot emerged on the scene only briefly in 1990, yet has become the undisputed kingpin of hardware retail since. More than 5000 independent hardware stores closed between 1990 and 2007, as reported in Stacy Mitchell’s 2007 expose Big Box Swindle by Stacy Mitchell; greenhouses and nurseries may have also closed, as have likely many more small stores since 2007. Independent retailers keep money circulating in their local economies. By spending at local independent retailers rather than at big box chains, consumers spend money that benefits both the economy and community at once whereas big box chains take money out of local economies rather than contributing directly back in.
So with Black Friday and Small Business Saturday almost here, please support your locally-owned greenhouses, nurseries, and plant stores by shopping from independently-owned greenhouses, nurseries, and plant stores. When shopping there you not only receive healthier plants but also support for an improving local economy!
