- Funding for Working Capital is provided by the Friends of KTWU, Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and Kansas Department of Commerce.

- Today on Working Capital, we're talking generational businesses.

Today's has been around the Topeka since 1886 and actually there's been a couple different families that have owned it, but the current family actually can say they've been around here doing kind of the same business for about three years and longer to, so stick around watching Working Capital.

Today we have the pleasure of being at Skinner Garden Store.

Like I say, it's been around since not too long after the state was founded.

So it was founded by the Skinner family.

Went through a few changes, but we're gonna get into that with the current owner and the current family who's been here a little longer than them even.

So with us today is Cameron Rees.

So Cameron, welcome to Working Capital.

- Thanks for having me.

- So first off, give us a little history about the Skinner Garden Store in general.

How it got started and, and why it was such a, a needed thing for Topeka at that point in time.

- So, Skinner Garden Store, the bi business we're talking about here got its start first spring was 1956, so shortly after the war.

- Yeah.

- World was changing.

Suburbs were building up - Refrigerators everywhere.

- Yeah.

- So people didn't need as many fruit trees in their yard - And more opportunity to landscape plant, you know, for beauty.

- Yeah, yeah.

- So actually the story I always heard was that the gentleman, the Skinner family had operating this at the time, was working for them as a sales rep back in the day.

They sent him to California to study this new concept called a garden center, come back with ideas so they could build one themselves.

He did, they build it, they put 'em in charge of it, and the rest is history.

- And that in 56, I mean that was, that was the first major change after that 1886.

'cause originally with all the, the fruit trees and the orchards kinda like res I mean this fertile ground all along the, the Kansas River here where you're located just off of Highway 75 going north of Topeka.

It's great for fruit trees and just that kind of, kind of nutrients.

So yeah, the commercial side of it used to be people needed them for their yards because the grocers and the, the system wasn't set up for your fresh fruits.

Right.

Sometimes vegetables.

So it was really needed.

So they went through that change.

So in 56 they, they, they start this, then they do have to get outta the business.

Right.

How does your family decide that this is something we wanna step into?

You know, we, do you love North Topeka that much?

Is it, is it the fruit trees?

What was the draw?

- So the, the original Skinner family started growing nursery stock back in 1870s.

Even older.

Right.

Wow.

And it became a large wholesale nursery operation.

Mostly fruit trees back in the day.

And then eventually got into some retail, put one of their guys in charge of it.

Kind of stayed in the background and focused on their wholesale activities.

As I understand it, they sold the business in 72 to that gentleman.

- Yeah.

- And decided to focus on wholesale nursery growing.

And he continued to operate it under the same name and doing all the same things.

You mentioned my family's business, that's Reese Fruit Farm.

My granddad started that and I don't even know when that started, but a long time ago, - I think 1883 we had them on the show.

A couple seats, but somewhere around there.

But same general - Time period.

There's, there's stuff in the family history going back a long ways.

Yeah.

Back farther.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, going back a long ways at the very least.

Wow.

But my dad actually grew up working for my granddad on that farm and I grew up on that farm alongside all of them doing all that work.

And eventually he left the family business and he came to work here.

And there was a lot of connection in the two businesses.

You know, you had a wholesale nursery that started this that grew lots of fruit trees.

My granddad operated an apple orchard that planted lots of fruit trees.

- Yeah.

- They had to have propagation material budwood to harvest, to propagate fruit trees.

So there was a, a lot of back and forth and everybody knew everybody.

So there's a tight community, right.

Yeah.

Anyway, my dad came here and he began working for the original general manager.

And not too many years later I needed employment as a high school kid.

And I came here and I really enjoyed it.

And I've been here ever since.

- So you, you, you did fall in love with, it wasn't like parents are, you're gonna take this over or, or you're written outta the will.

- No.

- Tell us about your love of this thing.

I mean, even from high school, how did you know this was your - Love?

Yeah, well, I, I mean obviously I grew up surrounded by it, whether it was the apple orchard and fruit production or nurseries and plants for ornamental value.

And you know, maybe I'm a byproduct, the environment I grew up in or maybe it was kind of in my genes and I just got lucky that I'm in the right spot.

But I, I, I really enjoyed it.

I went to K State, studied horticulture, came back and I've been working here ever since.

- So when you took over, what, what all was here?

How, how have you, how have you, how has your vision helped to, you know, I guess evolutionary?

- Yeah.

- Switched the, the Skinner Garden store.

- So the business has changed a lot in the years that I've been around.

And that's 40 some odd years, 45 years.

It's grown a lot.

It's expanded a lot.

We've got new structures, we've got new greenhouses, we've got additions.

And, and that's a culmination of a lot of people's input over a lot of years.

So everybody deserves credit 'cause there's been a lot of improvements through the years that happened because of a lot of the hard work and good ideas that people have had.

But opportunities for provided themselves and business grew and allowed us to expand.

And we're kind of why we look like we do today.

We just did a new greenhouse a couple years ago, which replaced a structure that was not that impressive.

Yeah.

And a little, little rundown and a whole lot smaller.

So that's been a nice change in addition.

And we just keep trying to do - What we can.

It's a little hard to tell from the highway, you know, when you're going 70 miles an hour just over the bridge, you've looked at the river.

Sometimes you can fly by this.

So it it, the scale of it though, once you get inside, especially from what I remember when I was little, you know, we, we moved here in 82.

This is one of the first places we went.

'cause my parents loved that their pastime was gardening Right.

And working outdoors.

So it's great seeing that change.

And you talk about all the hard work that's went into it.

So from when you first started, how many people were here and how has your employment fluctuated with, with the size and the scale and, and today's online buying and the, the big box stores you're competing with.

- So nowadays we've got probably about 15 full-time year round employees and it goes to 30, 35, 40 in season depending on the year.

What was that like years ago?

I couldn't give you exact numbers.

But less, - Yeah, less.

Yeah.

- Yeah, for sure.

There's been a lot of growth since I started back.

Well I started in high school, it would've been early, early eighties.

So not too far after what you were talking about.

So it's changed a lot since then.

- And it's not just about the fruit trees anymore of course.

- Right.

- So all these plants, how do you decide what to carry, what to curate?

Is there anything that you guys grow locally still?

Or are you, you finding sources other places?

So - When I got back from school, I began working with the owner at the time and he let me do a lot of the ordering or he kind of trained me in doing a lot of the ordering.

'cause he was, he was transitioning out.

And I've learned a lot over the years.

You learn a lot of plants, you, you learn that sometimes things look really great, but they don't survive very well and they're gonna be disappointing once people plan 'em.

And a lot of trial and error.

- Something around this long, they built trust into the brand.

And now even just the families behind it.

Yeah.

So it, yeah.

You don't wanna fly, fly by night that oh here's this new hybrid.

It looks great.

Right.

You put it in the ground Kansas summer, it lasts three weeks.

Yeah.

And then you're out, your, your money and your time.

You spent planning because it is your, I mean, you are taking time out of your own life to do something you love.

And it really is a nourishing thing to do though.

So if people want to come out here though, I, I saw some of the services you guys have that I didn't realize either.

Like if you find a plant you like and a lovely pot, you'll even pot plants for them.

There's some educational opportunities.

Tell us about kind of more the full service side almost of the garden store.

- Well, I mean we can offer all kinds of suggestions.

You know, a lot of people just don't know what to plant 'cause they're not horticulturists or they don't have a real good design eye.

We've got staff that knows no plants know all kinds of plants and we can, we can help give suggestions and offer combinations and quick sketches.

I tell people, bring out photographs, bring out measurements that really helps us out a lot.

- So you guys go from even just a, a single potted plant to we can help you landscape your yard from even if you don't really have an idea or if you know what you want, we can help make it work in that space.

- We can at least come up with some ideas so that you can, what I always tell folks, you might not have the big master plan, but you're gonna at least have a, a solution for the weekend project.

- What, when you first started as manager here, 'cause you'd already been through it a a little bit at that point, working here, what was the biggest hurdle, the biggest challenge you found in this space?

- Yeah, I would say that through all the years that I've been here, there's been a learning curve and there still is.

Learning plants is one thing.

Learning business is another.

Learning management of people and, and dealing with the environment that you're in.

Both the physical environment and then the economic environment.

I didn't go to school to become a business major, you know, so I've, I've had a lot to learn and I lean on a lot of folks for help.

- How did it change with the inception of even, I know Kmart was around, been around for a while, but when the big Walmarts, when even the bigger grocery stores start carrying plants, how did that affect your business?

- So there's always been competition and that's just, that's there was gonna be competition.

It's changed a lot years ago, going back to my earlier years, there were a lot of garden centers in town and there's just not very many garden centers anymore.

A lot of those places of retirements or or or for whatever reason have shut down.

Yeah.

There's been some shift from some of the box stores to other box stores and that's always kind of been a, a level of competition and we just try to do what we do.

- Yeah.

- And focus on that.

We, we wanna provide customer service.

We want to bring in good quality plants.

We're not trying to bring in the cheapest plant we can find, we're trying to bring in the best version.

'cause Kansas conditions are tough.

Yeah.

And you throw plants - Out there, you know, the soil, you know the climate.

Whereas these retailers are getting what's being shipped mostly from just corporate or something.

Right.

Just kind of on a list.

Right.

They're in stock.

They may not be hardy.

- Not, or they might, I mean, I'm not saying that - They are.

Yeah, no, - Yeah, of course.

But it's, I mean it's, I don't, you know, I, we do what we do 'cause we know what we're doing and we're gonna focus on that and hopefully people appreciate that.

- I think it's, it's that that touch with the customer also.

'cause you may luck upon someone working at the other stores that, that knows a lot about them.

Not saying they're not all good employees.

Right.

But really know specifically about those plants that they're working with here.

I'm guessing most everyone knows a little something and they at least know who they can ask about that certain thing.

- That collective knowledge is what we lean in on a lot.

Yeah, absolutely.

I don't claim to know everything.

In fact, there's - Probably, I don't know how you could, - Customers that could teach me more on certain aspects of some of the things that we sell than, than than what I know.

But collectively there's just, there's always somebody that knows a little bit about those house plants or these perennials or those annuals or those trees.

And so it really gives us a lot of resources to lean in on.

That's great.

- It's time for a short break.

Stick around, we'll be back.

We're gonna see how they plant the seeds for their marketing, how they get their message across and, and even maybe what their plans are in the future.

You've been watching Working Capital.

Welcome back.

Thanks for sticking around.

Okay.

So you do have to kind of plant your own seeds as a local business in marketing.

So tell us a little about what you guys do.

Do you do some online?

I know you have a great website and also you are one of the few local nurseries who gives out information.

I know you have a radio show on five 80 am Radio.

Right.

So tell us a little bit your outreach and, and how you get your business message out there to everybody.

- So one of the things that I didn't know much about when I took over operations was how to market anything.

We'd always done marketing, but it was probably never done in a really efficient way.

So I, again, I started relying on help.

I reached out to people that that advise and consult on that kind of kind of thing.

And I got information and ideas and got a little bit more organized plan.

We use a lot of radio.

You mentioned the radio show that we do.

I I do that now on Saturday mornings.

Every Saturday morning, eight to nine o'clock on am five 80 WIVW FM 1 0 4 0.9.

That program.

Got it.

Start 1967.

- I did not realize that.

Yeah.

So I knew you did it, but Wow.

- And has been in continuous operation ever since.

Longest running show on the, on the radio station.

I didn't do it all those years.

I got started when I came back from college, so about 1990, myself and a few others that worked here took it over from a gentleman that had done it since its inception.

And I've been part of it ever since.

Normally do it live.

So you have an opportunity to call in, we can talk or text in, we deal with whatever problems you got.

- Do you have any really good stories from that that you just remember offhand?

Like this caller or, or even just a customer experience who was related to you?

- Well there's, there's always people that like messing with you.

So those are the ones that pop into my mind.

But I always enjoy I the calls that I get on, on air, but the comments that I get from customers later on that same day or the next week and, and tell me they like to listen.

They appreciated the information and it made a difference in their life.

Something that yeah.

Wasn't going well.

Started growing better or Yeah.

They knew how to fix the problem they had, - Like you spoke about in this internet age, marketing just went all over the place.

- Yeah.

- And you almost have to, at least I think you guys kind of rode through the wave because at first, you know, all the big stores, everything to the eBays and the Amazons and the Target and Walmart online.

But you guys made it through that.

How do you, how do you gauge that?

Are there people on your staff?

You say you have 15.

Is there someone who is a little more like watching the trends and seeing your, your page flows?

'cause when you started, I mean in this town at least, you know, capital Journal, maybe the metro news and you hit the, the local stations and the radio and you didn't have to worry about an Instagram or a Facebook or even a website and keep it kind of relevant and looking good so people don't think maybe you went out of business 10 years ago.

Right.

Do you have people on staff that really do help you with that?

Or is that a service you look for outside of here?

- Most of that we do.

We, we, we outsource.

We've got people that help us with all the social media sites that do all the digital marketing and, and those are things that we do a lot lot with anymore that we didn't, you know, even a few years ago.

- Yeah.

- And for sure 10, 15, 20 years ago.

Yeah.

That, so the channels that we use have changed.

And the, I guess the main thing that kinda carries through all of 'em is we try to, to be be honest with what we're saying.

Try to say something that people want to hear, not just wanna hear, but talk about information that's important to them.

Yeah.

There's one thing to just beat your chest and say, look at us, but that's nobody care.

- You want people to perk up and be excited for the information.

- We want to talk about things that customers hopefully care about.

And then we want to back it up with a, an opportunity or experience here that, that reflects what, what the advertising is talking about.

Hopefully you're gonna be treated well and you're gonna see good product and you're gonna get a, a solution to the problem you've got.

- Speaking of problems and solutions, every business deals with cons with the consumers and, and maybe a product or, or an item that goes bad.

Someone takes home a lovely plant, they plant it, they think they did right, maybe they did.

Right.

What happens when something goes wrong and they come back?

How do you guys deal with, with, I, I doubt you have many, but have you had an irate customer?

Have I had someone like all these died on me and it may have been them over fertilizing.

Right?

But how do you, how do you approach that subject when you really are, you know, built into the community and it really is about face-to-face customer service?

- Yeah.

Well I think any, any business you're selling something or you're offering a service, there's gonna be times where things don't go right for whatever reason.

And in the plant world, a lot of us do guarantees on plants for certain periods of time and, and, and so that takes care of some of that.

But beyond that, if, if, if there's a failure, you know, with a plant in a landscape, then ultimately we want to try to figure out what's going on and you know, the same thing's gonna keep happening if we don't - Figure out is it the genetics?

Is it the, yeah, yeah.

- Was it a bad choice or, or maybe there was just some bad information in that person's care system that prevented it from being successful.

So we try to find out, I mean we usually tell folks, Hey, we're gonna take care of it now let's figure out what's going on and try to solve the big problem.

- On that note though, so as you help people build their backyards and dream backyards and try to fit it in Kansas temperaments.

Yeah.

What about people come in and say, I want a banana tree, or I want these tropical plants that don't really work well in, in Kansas.

How do you tiptoe on that?

Or is it just if you have a banana tree?

No, you need to take them inside for the winter, you know?

Yeah.

How, how do you deal with the more ornamental and exotic plants?

- So I the answer to that, there are some things that you just have to have that conversation.

Like you can do it, but it, it's gotta be portable.

You gotta you gotta move - Things.

Yeah.

It's on you.

Yeah.

Because this isn't made for here.

- And there's some things that I think early in my experience here, and I see this a lot with, with with new staff and, and not just our business but other businesses too.

Customer requests start to drive purchases and you know, sometimes we know better.

I mean, I'm not saying that's all the case all the time, but - Yeah.

- There are times where it's like, you know, yeah we could order this in for you and, but it's just not gonna do very well.

And so I just kind of draw the line on some things and say, you know, we're not gonna do that because we've seen too many people have a bad experience.

- Yeah.

- That doesn't mean everybody's gonna be, have a bad experience, but, you know, we gotta play a little bit to the most people are gonna have bad experiences.

It's probably not worth stocking.

So Yeah.

We, yeah, I, I, I very consciously don't bring certain things in.

I get a lot of requests for from experience and, and might be things that we did years ago, but I learned my lesson.

- Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So how do you decide when you wanna bring in new plants or new flowers or, or new tree?

Is it all of you do, do you go to trade shows?

What, what is it - Yeah.

- What, you know, what is that line coming down from where they're planted to where they get here?

- So I, I'm the buyer for all the trees and the shrubs and the, all the woody outdoor landscape kind of plants, evergreens and so forth.

Misty, one of my counterparts here, she's in charge of all the greenhouse crops, so Okay.

Annuals and perennials and the tropicals and house plants.

We spend a lot of time researching plants, talking with the growers personally, I i, I try to pull as much information as I can on things.

20, 30 years ago, most new plan introductions would go through a fair amount of testing and a lot of maybe universities would plan 'em in in trial areas.

And so there would be a, some good factual time proven information.

In today's world, plant introductions come pretty quick and a lot of times don't have much infield research behind them.

So everybody's kind of the Guinea pig.

But I, we try to use, you know, good, good practical knowledge.

Hey, this is a plant we've, we've we're familiar with.

We understand what it does and doesn't do.

Here's been a problem we've seen for a long time.

There's nothing new going on here except it's an so we, we just try to u use educated guesses sometimes and don't go too deep into something that until we prove it.

- Speaking of educated guesses and education Kansas State, how much do you still partner with them for this kind of knowledge?

And for those out there who, who love this kind of field, tell 'em a little about your, your education at Kansas State and, and how you can get into something like this field and, and really know everything about it.

- Yeah.

Well so my degree is in horticulture and within horticulture you picked a specialty.

Mine was landscape design, but that meant I had to learn a lot of ornamental horticulture and all the things kind of involved.

- Yeah.

- In this business, every week I go in to do the radio show.

One of the first things I read is the latest K state newsletter every week the horticulture department - Yeah.

- Has a newsletter and they put out publications about pest problems and disease problems and, and weather related problems.

And the newsletter focuses on a lot of that too.

It's very timely advice.

The, you know, the extension service is a tremendous outreach for information, good science based information.

So yeah, I rely on them a lot.

We've got county extension agents here and in wherever you might live that they're a good resource to and I lean on them as well.

- What if someone is not buying the soil from here and potting it and they want, they're putting stuff in the ground.

What do they do if they have a soil sample?

So they want to know what their nutrients around there are.

Not on a farm scale, but just, I wanna make sure my fruit trees propagate well for the next decade.

Yeah.

Do can they come to you or is that something - They switch office.

Yeah.

Same extension service.

Yeah.

They do soil testing, they send samples up to the labs at K State and you get back the basics.

You need to know there's, there's test kits that we sell that, you know, if you just want some real - Basing get you ball range, - Get you close enough.

Yeah.

- Because some people will go in and still put in their own little orchards.

Yeah.

You know?

- Yeah.

- And to me that's a pretty big investment.

So you might wanna know something about the nutrients in the soil so then you can also tell 'em a good program maybe.

Is that what you guys kinda help with too?

Like this kind of fertilizer or this kind of nutrients you might need?

- Yeah.

- This time of year.

So how does that plan do it because it's, it is not just planning it, there's upkeep also.

- I have a lot of those conversations and it's usually pretty overwhelming 'cause there's, there's planning science and there's scare and there's pruning and then there's maybe disease control and there's a lot.

So I, I usually go over some basics and then I start mentioning K State horticulture extension.

There's publications on growing apples, growing peaches, growing blackberries and raspberries that explain in detail, here's how you need to prune 'em.

These are the pest problems, these are the disease problems and these are the ways you deal with those.

And so sometimes you need some black and white backup information.

That's a good resource.

Really good resource.

- Cameron, it has been great learning about the Skinner Garden Center.

I mean the scale, just the views.

I mean I, I could just spend an afternoon wandering through here.

- You're more than welcome - To, and I hope everyone else comes out to take this in.

Whether you're wanna learn more about gardening, whether you're ready to buy some plants, whether you're looking at just what you might be able to do in your landscape.

I, I think they have enough experience to help you out.

And it's great learning about how this business has been generational, middle part of Topeka since 1886.

So I love it when other families come on board and keep these businesses going and you see that love for the area really.

So thank you Cameron so much.

You bet.

For being on the show.

Thanks for coming out and thank you all for watching.

- Funding for Working Capital is provided by the Friends of KTWU, Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and Kansas Department of Commerce.