Garden Center Design School

Garden Center Magazine

Training in design

Cross marketing

Designing for relaxation

Drawing attention to plants

Creating 'hot spots'

Green ideas for existing stores

A cohesive feel for the store

Merchandising

Principles of a great display

Retailing in a greenhouse

Traffic flow patterns that work

Principles of an effective entrance

While we are an industry known for selling beauty, we are not a pretty industry. How many garden centers have you seen with multiple buildings that were erected years apart, sometimes over a span of decades? Visual appeal rarely factored into selecting a building. Unfortunately, that hodgepodge extends to store interiors, even in higher-end markets.

A team of designers from AGI-West, a design firm with some big names under its belt (including Bloomingdales, Neiman-Marcus and Macy’s) took a good look at our industry. And that team -- David Cassidy, principal, AIA (American Institute of Architects), Aditya Dafre, LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional), Cindy McInturff, Assoc. ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects), Kelley Parker, designer -- have some great ideas of how garden centers can visually unite their sprawling stores.

Click on a page below to download each page's PDF file.

Page 1 * How to unify a sprawling garden center
Page 2 * Making the grade
Page 3 * What you should do before meeting with a professional * Meet the professors

To view other topics in this series, select from the list on the navigation bar. Each link becomes active as we publish the magazine each month.