G&S Nursery Fall 2017 Newsletter

INSIDER
FALL 2017
I WAS AN OUTLAW
GROCERY SMUGGLER...
WHAT’S INSIDE | THIS ISSUE
MAKING LEMONADE
HURRICANE IRMA
PODOCARPUS

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Making Lemonade Out
of Ruined Wedding Cake
It was the worst day ever.
Sarah Cummins had spent a
lifetime dreaming of this day, only
to have it slip from her fingers at
the last moment. Her wedding
had been abruptly called off days
before the big event.
Compounding the shame and disappointment
was the knowledge
that there would be no refunds for
the elaborate reception that had
been so meticulously planned.
Yet somehow, the jilted bride had
the presence of mind to formulate
a plan to repurpose the reception,
a plan that might at least give
someone else something to celebrate
and hopefully take the edge
off of her own suffering.
Her plan was to fill the reception
room with people in need of a respite
from their own troubles. With
the consent of her now ex-fiancé,
she contacted area shelters and
the invitation went out to homeless
people to enjoy a fine meal and entertainment
at a beautiful reception
hall in Carmel, Indiana.
The invitation provoked a flurry of
last-minute preparations among
the invitees. With the scarce
resources available to them,
breathless moms dug through
clothing donation boxes looking
for anything festive they could put
on their children and themselves.
Sport coats were suddenly a hot
commodity for men who had fallen
on hard times. Hours were spent
elaborately curling hair and getting
made up for an elegant evening in
the city.
When the guests began to arrive,
Sarah was there to greet them.
“I will at least have some kind of
happy memory to pull from,” she
said.
Photo Credit: Indy Star
Exponentialism
I’m starting to understand what old
folks mean when they say the older
you get, the faster time moves.
A year ago, I thought we were
pretty busy. We were hard at work
planning our new nursery compound
while continuing to meet the
needs of our customers.
We soldiered on with all the extra
work, knowing that things would
settle down after we’d gotten
through the relocation and had a
chance to establish a routine.
Ha!
The joke was on me. Since we’ve
settled in to our fabulous new location
we’ve experienced the following
changes:
• Our staff has grown to 35+
employees
• We’ve increased our availability
list items by 50%
• We’ve begun a “guaranteedin-stock”
promise on our core
items (more on that on page 6)
• We’ve purchased several new
trucks and trailers
• We’ve opened a business office
in Jacksonville
You can read about some of the
new people who have come on
board elsewhere in this newsletter.
We are only able to keep up the
pace here because of the talent
of the people we have working
for us. I’m blessed to have such
a strong team working here to
be the Highlight of Your Day, and
finding ways in the midst of all the
activity to still have fun and keep
our values in perspective.
Cheers!
Zack Kirsch
General Manager
386 754-0161
sales@gsnursery.com
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Trader Joe’s
Spurns a Lover
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Not many grocery stores can
boast the loyalty of fans of
Trader Joe’s. If you are not
fortunate enough to live near
a TJ’s store, you may not
understand what makes them
so special. The stores are
full of personality, and—even
more significantly—they excel
in offering their own brand of
juice flavors, frozen vegetable
mixes, snacks, and convenience
foods. Unlike other
grocery stores whose private
store brand products tend
to be of a lesser quality than
the higher priced name brand
products, TJ private labeled
foods are reliably delicious,
original and largely unique.
Canadian customer Mike
Hallatt loves Trader Joe’s
with such a passion, that he
would make special trips to
the U.S. just to stock up on
his favorite items and bring
them back to his home in
Vancouver. One fateful day
at the Trader Joe’s in Bellingham
WA, he realized that a
large number of shoppers in
the store were fellow Canadians,
and the lightbulb went
off: Why not open a store in
Vancouver and stock it with
Trader Joe’s products purchased
in the U.S.?
Thus was born the idea for
Pirate Joe’s.
For years, Pirate Joe’s was
the only storefront in Canada
that sold Trader Joe’s groceries.
The store’s décor had hints of the
jaunty vibe of a real Trader Joe’s,
but it also had a subversive feel to
it, which added to the attraction.
Although Hallatt never misrepresented
what he was doing and
took great care to comply with all
the intricate rules imposed by two
sovereign nations regarding ex-
port, import and
sale of foods in
Canada, the real
Trader Joe’s took
a highly adversarial
posture and harassed
him with every legal tool at their
disposal until he finally waved
the white flag in June of 2017.
It’s a tragic story filled with
love, pathos, and determination
where the little guy triumphs
but then gets knocked down
again. For Hallatt, it was never
about the money. It’s hard
to get rich hiring Americans
to shop for you, paying retail
prices for merchandise that you
then have to transport across
a border, add compliant food
labeling and merchandise in
a Canadian brick-and-mortar
facility. The markup Hallatt
charged could never be high
enough to do more than keep
the whole enterprise afloat.
No, it was never about the
money. It was more like the
mountain that needed to be
climbed “because it was
there.” It was thrilling to
do something so on the
fringes of legality and
propriety yet somehow
noble. Hallatt had made
it clear that he would
shut down his store the
minute Trader Joe’s entered
the Canadian market—he even
offered to gift the company his
labeling equipment.
But the suits at TJ’s doggedly
fought Hallatt and his store
from the moment they found
out what he was up to. They
threw him out of their stores,
sent cease and desist letters,
filed lawsuits, appealed the verdicts
when they lost, and wore
him down until he finally ran out
of resources.
“It was a great run while it
lasted,” wrote Hallatt on the
piratejoes.ca website. “I’m
mostly relieved and genuinely
stoked to jump into something
way less uncertain. Normal,
even! If you have any ideas or
you are a CEO looking for a
troublemaker…”
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Featured
Plant
PODOCARPUS
Podocarpus Macrophyllus
Introducing...
A disease tolerant shrub/tree
that doesn’t mind coastal salt,
the podocarpus lends an oriental
feeling and distinctive green
color to any planting. Its branches
are characterized by slender
leaves thickly and neatly sticking
out from every diirection on each
branch.
The bluish cast to the foliage
adds a pleasing tone amongst
the other greens in a garden and
it responds well to trimming. It is
often used for topiary or espalier.
It can also be grown into a large
tree if left alone.
We have have a special buy on
these low-branched 30-gallon
trees. Take advantage of this offer
while it lasts!
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386 754-0161
30 gal: $135 $115.00!
Prices good through the end of November 2017
ANNOUNCING: OUR $50 GUARANTEE
G&S Nursery is rolling out a new in-stock guarantee on our core 4” material. If you
order any plant on our Quick-Ship list and we don’t have it ready in inventory, we’ll
pay you $50! Plants that are included in this $50 Quick-Ship guarantee are:
4” Asiatic Jasmine 4” Big Blue Liriope 4” Mondo Grass 4” Dwarf Mondo Grass
see www.gsnursery.com/ups-shipmnents for more information
Frank Severino
Frank came to work for us in
our Lake City office after a
distinguished 20+ year career
working for Grandiflora nursery
in Gainesville. Recent changes
at Grandiflora caused many
key personnel to take their
talents elsewhere, and we’re
delighted that we were able
to snag a guy with the talent
and experience that Frank
has. He will be in charge of our
purchasing.
When the Weather Is
the Story
Mandy Reynolds
Mandy will be working in
our Jacksonville office as
our marketing specialist.
She was formerly a digital
marketing specialist for a
company in Nashville.
Like everyone else in Florida, Hurricane
Irma affected our September. Fortunately
we didn’t suffer too badly other
than a lot of rain, a 3-day power outage,
and a little bit of flooding that gave
our VP of sales Jorge a chance to play
with some heavy equipment to try to
control where the excess water should
go. He learned pretty quickly that even
big tires can get stuck in the mud if
you’ve got enough mud!
None of our plants suffered any damage
because we had taken steps beforehand
to move plants from any low
areas to higher ground.
Jessie Handy
An ambitious young lady
recently out of high school,
Jessie is working out of our
Lake City office assisting
our GM, Zack, and earning
money for her college
education.
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www.gsnursery.com

1550 SW Bedenbaugh Ln.
Lake City FL 32025
RIDDLE OF THE MONTH
What instantly gains 50% in value
when you turn it upside down?
LAST MONTH’S RIDDLE:
Two friends live along a river 9 miles
apart. They make plans to meet on a
Saturday, and they both leave in kayaks at
the same time. Jim is paddling downriver
at a rate of 3 miles an hour. Clarence has
to fight the current, so his progress is only 1
mile an hour.
How many hours must they paddle before
they meet up?
ANSWER: They will meet up in 2 hours
and 15 minutes.
ANSWER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN:
Amazon
Echo Dot
LAST ISSUE’S WINNERS
Kiel Owens
Lisa Gill
Barbara Noguet
Send answers to newsletter@gsnursery.com before Nov 30 2017. All correct
answers will be entered into a drawing to win a prize!