Shemin introduced the concept of landscape distribution with the founding of Shemin Nurseries in October 1955 in Greenwich, Conn. He saw a place for a middleman in commercial horticulture, and he founded the company on the principles of providing service and convenience for landscape contractors.

Shemin estimates there are now about 5,000 landscape distribution centers nationwide, all following Shemin Nurseries' formula. Shemin was also a pioneer in buying plant materials from growers from coast to coast, which helped transform the nursery business from a regional to a national industry.

Today the parent company, Shemin Holdings Corp., owns 31 nursery locations, plus 42 United Greenmark Inc. irrigation supply stores across the country. On the brink of the company's 50th anniversary, the nurseries are a tribute to Shemin's vision. A business can succeed by becoming a one-stop shop for landscape professionals. Contractors will pay a premium to get all the plants and supplies they need from one location instead of having to go from grower to grower and supplier to supplier.

Humble beginnings

Shemin's father, William, operated a retail nursery in Bronx, N.Y. Shemin attended Syracuse University and studied forestry for two years before becoming a business and liberal arts major.

During the Korean War, Shemin served in the military at a remote radar station in the United States. While there, he had to go to a commissary regularly to pick up supplies. These stops got his entrepreneurial juices flowing.

"The commissary was a staging area where you picked up all types of supplies. After about a year, I thought the nursery industry needed a commissary -- almost like a garden center for professional landscapers where they can pick up everything they need," he said.

The timing was right for this venture. Many Americans were returning home from World War II and the Korean war, and the suburbs were expanding. Land once dedicated to farming was being developed into housing. This meant more landscaping, and contractors needed a place to buy their goods.

"I received almost no encouragement from anybody," Shemin said. "To purchase the land in Greenwich, I had to meet with the Farm Credit people. They wanted me to take them to an existing facility that did the same thing I wanted to do. I told them, 'It doesn't exist. This is a new venture in horticulture.'"

In the end he got the loan because, "I showed up early and they said I sounded like I knew what I was talking about," Shemin said.

Departmentalized

Right away Shemin knew a key to success would be balancing green- and hard-goods sales. His concept was to develop businesses within the business -- nursery plants, greenhouse plants, tools and equipment, irrigation supplies, etc.

He hired managers for each division, and chose young, energetic people for the jobs.

"I thought it would be easier to take young college graduates and young people with few years' experience in the industry and train them, rather than trying to retrain people that had been in the business for 20 or 30 years," Shemin said.

But Shemin was learning himself, too.

"It became apparent that we had to bring up all the businesses together so that one didn't dominate over the others," he said. "Most landscape distribution centers today still specialize -- either green goods dominate or hard goods dominate -- but we're more even handed, which sets us apart."

Helping little guys

Customer reaction was favorable, and Shemin took pride in helping small contractors get started.

"When we opened, landscape contractors were somewhat of an elitist group, and did primarily estate work for large homes," Shemin said. "Post WWII and Korea brought a new brand of landscape contractor, primarily first- or second-generation American, and primarily of Italian descent."

Shemin reached out to this group and helped them compete with the big guys. He helped them learn plant materials, often helped them learn English and helped them with business-related issues such as making bids.

He introduced small contractors to new plants he bought from nurseries from as far away as Oregon, California and Texas. This gave small operators an advantage, as most large contractors purchased only from a few local growers.

"This broadened the plant palette for the everyday landscaper, and they often had higher-quality plants because I bought from so many growers," Shemin said.

He also allowed small contractors to bring their clients to the nursery.

"This almost gave the impression that the landscaper had his own nursery. The consumers couldn't see the wholesale prices, so what did it matter?" Shemin said.

This leveled the playing field, and soon the large contractors were buying from Shemin, too.

Help from the growers

Two early challenges were getting nurseries to give Shemin a discount, and determining what markup he needed to charge. Too much markup drove away customers, and too little would erase profitability.

"Convincing growers to give a discount was a new concept for them, and they were resistant," Shemin said. "But I told them that I'd be buying in bulk and they'd be delivering full trailers to me. They wouldn't be digging five of this and five of that. They'd only be making one drop and this made it worth their time to give me a discount."

Growers soon lost their resistance and grew to love the idea, he said. Shemin was, and still is, a plantsman at heart. His love of plants and wanting to offer something different is what led him to seek new varieties nationwide.

He shared his newfound knowledge of plants with contractors and landscape architects regularly. But what did Shemin determine was the proper markup?

"I estimated that a 15-25 percent markup would work if we could convince the customer that the convenience, quality and service make the extra cost worthwhile," he said. "When you combine that with the discount from growers, that gave us the margins we needed."

Shemin today

Shemin, who turns 74 in November, eventually wanted to pursue other interests and sold the company to investors. At the time, the company had 16 or 17 locations.

"I thought I could add new locations incrementally, but I never thought it could reach the size that it is today. I never thought you'd have the ability to control, manage and operate remote sites the way you can today," Shemin said.

While the company has changed hands several times since Shemin sold it, he remains on the company's board of directors. CEO Steffan Burns said his knowledge and experience are still invaluable for the company.

"He acts more like an adviser rather than a typical board member of a corporation," Burns said. "I try to meet with him monthly so he can educate me."

In fact, Burns is trying to refocus the company back on Shemin's early philosophies.

"From the start he emphasized what he called QVAS -- quality, variety, availability and service," Burns said. "These are the essence of what we're trying to do. We dusted off and reimplemented these values and they're the core of what we do today."

Notice that price is not among these values.

"I think price was always fifth or sixth down the list of importance in the customers' minds," Shemin said.

But much of Shemin's time now is spent on a new project -- growing organic vegetable, herb and flower seeds in the Israeli desert. Shemin has had a desire to develop agriculture in this region for many years. Also, with laws being passed around the globe requiring certified organic produce and plants to come from organically grown seeds, there's a market for the crops he's growing.

Shemin also spends his time serving as a trustee at Syracuse University and the Boca Raton (Fla.) Museum of Art.

For more: Shemin Nurseries Inc., 42 Old Ridgebury Road, Danbury, CT 06810-5129; (203) 207-5000; fax (203) 207-5060; www.sheminnurseries.com.

. . © 2004 Branch-Smith Publishing