Business Barometer August/September 2008
These responses came from a June 25, 2008, survey and originally appeared in the August/September 2008 issue of Water Garden News.
Water Garden Industry Booms
A wholesaler in Alberta, Canada
We supply the retail trade, and business is challenging. Typically we sell aquarium plants in wintertime and some aquatic plants in summer and spring.
The water gardening industry is booming in our neck of the woods. It’s the thing to do. It’s been coming on for several years and it’s the busiest time we’ve seen.
It may be short-lived because of pricing and housing. We’re being cushioned from a lot of this; the reality has not set in here, which helps our business and economy.
We have trouble getting rock and rock sources, especially for larger pond-building operations. Shipping and transport are causing challenges. It’s causing people to look at how they’re ordering. People are getting less frivolous with their spending. They become more frugal as costs begin to increase.
The oil boom in our area has helped keep things positive. People are still spending quite freely because jobs are good. Even with gas prices going so high, people are still spending because they’re making a fair bit of money. I expect that reality will set in a bit toward fall.
In the greater picture, things here are still reasonably good. Across the country there are people who are tightening up their pocketbooks.
Aquariums and ponds often are considered a luxury, so they are one of the first things people cut back on. To combat that, we encourage retailers to purchase a decent quantity to reduce their overall shipping costs. We also focus on working with shipping companies that are not dimensioning stuff out, but going on weight. We are doing well right now.
Time to Change Business Focus
A garden center retailer in Allen Park, Mich.
Business is terrible. In the last three years sales have gone down about 20 percent – 10 percent from the economy and the other 10 percent because about four big-box stores opened up down the street. We have kept our own for about 20 years and averaged about the same amount in sales. We’re lucky to still be here.
To combat the challenges, we have changed our direction. We’re moving away from the products the big-box stores offer. We sell a lot of bulk materials and repairs. We’re also changing the product mix in the store. We’re getting rid of what does not sell quickly.
We’ve cut back on water gardening because of the economy. People aren’t doing as much water gardening as they used to. It’s more of a luxury item. Pond maintenance is doing good though.
We’re living day by day here and thinking about changes we can make for wintertime. Hopefully the downturn has hit bottom and we’ll get some relief soon.
Maintenance Remains Steady
A waterscaper in Coral Springs, Fla.
Sales are substantially lower. I keep getting calls from people who are interested in doing a water feature, but they cannot spend that kind of money right now. We typically have jobs lined up for the next few months, but we have no jobs right now.
I run two businesses: water garden and landscaping. We’re substituting the water garden work with landscaping. Maintenance is going well. We do cleanouts and trimming of aquatic plants, repairs and adjustments to ponds, which keep us busy on the weekends.
Prior to the gas increase, we used to give free estimates to our serious customers. Right now, we cannot afford to go out for free.
I expect it will take time for things to plateau and start to improve. I’m just taking it one day at a time for now.
Housing is the biggest issue for us in Florida. Even when there were drought issues, we were still building new installations. The housing market has really changed that.
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Business Barometer August/September 2008
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