Time is running out on bad ol' 2008! Sometimes it's hard to appreciate the great things that have happened this year when contemplating horrific economic news and the unspeakably foul (and sales-killing) weather we've had in December, but at least we're still in business, in a year where that's a pretty spectacular achievement by itself. Many, many thanks to all of you for your part in our semi-success!
That said, we're of course focused on '09 now. During this week of down-time (we're currently closed and won't re-open until Friday, January 2nd) we're eagerly planning for spring and taking a good, hard look at what worked for us this year and what didn't - and where the trends are going. Some consultant dude for Home Depot is claiming 2009 will see the greatest resurgence in home vegetable gardening in 50 years and, well, THAT sounds nice! Early indications are, this is probably true: a couple of our growers are moving into edibles next year as they also believe that's where the $$ will be. We feel really lucky we buy from the talented, dedicated people we do and were honored to give them enthusiastic feedback on their proposed plant lists. There is some very cool, yummy stuff on the way!
We'll continue to bring you a wonderful selection of house plants, too - that was probably one of our better moves this year. A lot of our customers live in condos or apartments and, unless they have a little balcony or patio area, their need for green can only manifest indoors. It works for us, too! These long, dark winter days pass more pleasantly under our full-spectrum fluorescents, surrounded by jungle greenery and a purring jungle cat, softly burbling fountains accompanying tropical bossa nova tunes on the cd player as the wind howls outside, and the snow falls...
What mistakes have we made this year, that we can now call "learning experiences"?? Well, I re-ordered 'Siam Ruby' bananas not once but twice without benefit of selling out the FIRST batch (oops - kept glancing at them and thinking they were cannas) and, interestingly, we learned to take vacations when we're still busy and thus already have employees on the schedule. We also totally forgot to order some really basic items - pea innoculant, Osmocote, fava beans...? There was some financial planning that could have gone better, but nothing life-threatening - we think we were pretty smart for newbies, though every bit as lucky as we were smart.
Smart or lucky, though, we couldn't have done it alone - and we didn't. Our staff was incredible, and we're hoping to hire back as many of them as we can this spring. Sally, Amy, Barb and Mary - take a bow; we wish we could pay you what you're worth but thank you for your service! Laura and Mercedes, thank you for helping us launch this thing and best of luck with your own gigs. Suzy - bookkeeper dearest - thank you for keeping us out of jail. And yeah, Tanker, ear scritches for you, too...thanks for mellowing a bit in your old age. :)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
No comments:
Post a Comment