The Plant House | Application Preview
The Plant House is seeking government grants for crucial capital improvements, particularly to replace an aging building essential for operations. The current facility will be demolished and replaced with a larger, multi-purpose steel structure designed for efficient transplanting, safer chemical storage, and enhanced seed sales.
In the next five years, the business aims to engage a younger customer base, leveraging market research indicating a resurgence of interest in gardening among younger demographics. They plan to utilize social media as a cost-effective outreach tool, especially given their advantageous location in a college town that supports local businesses. There's an opportunity to further connect with the university community to boost customer engagement.
Additionally, The Plant House plans to grow its commercial business by collaborating closely with landscapers in the area. With a projected surge in landscaping jobs, the business intends to align its product offerings with landscapers' needs through feedback and targeted advertising to increase brand awareness locally before expanding further.
The application emphasizes The Plant House's significance as a community pillar, having operated since 1967. Its longevity and commitment to quality products and services are highlighted as reasons for funding approval. This is contrasted with the overall failure rate of businesses, showcasing The Plant House's endurance as a sound investment.
In terms of competition, The Plant House faces challenges from local stores like Walmart, Ace Hardware, Hy-Vee, Sutherlands, and Tractor Supply. While these competitors offer lower prices or specific products, The Plant House distinguishes itself through superior customer service, a broader product selection, and higher quality plants that yield better results for customers.
Overall, The Plant House's application presents a compelling case for funding based on community impact, a strong business model, and a commitment to quality and customer service.
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General Information
Business Registration Number: X001391184
Location: Maryville, MO, United States
Length of Operation: 1-5
Number of Employees: 1-10 Employees
Annual Gross Income: $250k to $500k
Annual Gross Expense: $100k to $250k
Open to Loans: YES
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Funding Usage
Capital improvements. One of the structures is becoming unfit to run business out of and is a vital part to the conducting of our business. We seek with this grant to not only replace the building but upgrade it. The current building will be demolished and replace by a new steel building that is larger in size and multipurpose to facilitate a more efficient transplanting, safer chemical mixing/storage, and seed selling apparatus.
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Business Plan
In the next 5 years one of our main goals is to attract and retain younger customers so that our customer base always remains plentiful. Market research is suggesting that gardening in all its forms is making a comeback in the younger demographics and we are going to capitalize on that. In order to attract a younger demographic we are meeting our customers where they are, which is primarily through social media. We believe this to be a more inexpensive way to reach many individuals. Additionally, we are lucky enough to be in a college town which has a steady supply of people that fit into this demographic. Also, the University is friendly to local businesses, and especially so with a business such as ours as the area and the university is rural. We have and are exploring more ways to expand our outreach into the University. In the next 5 years we will continue our goal to acquire more commercial business from landscapers. As people become more consumed by their day job whether it be a remote job or otherwise, people may not have the time to do the larger landscape projects that they want. The labor outlook for landscapers and the demand for landscaping services is projected to increase by 56,000 jobs over the next 10 years. We aim to capitalize on that industry’s growth in a couple of ways. First, coordinate closely with the landscapers we already work with, and ask them specifically what products they use in order to match their needs. In that same vein, we ask what products they would like to see become available to them through The Plant House, and ask what new trends they are seeing coming up in their work. This is something we have done from the beginning, and we are now seeing the fruits of that labor through an increase in landscaper sales and plainly serving more of those professionals. Secondly, we will create ad campaigns targeted at professional landscapers. Initially we will use ad outlets that are more local to our area with the goal of those advertisements simply reminding/informing those professionals about the business and giving them a small overview of products we offer. As we build brand awareness closer to home we will reach out further. The town of Maryville and specifically The Plant House has become more than a business for this place it is effectively a town cornerstone. The business has been in near continuous operation since 1967, and going back even further the business was run for decades under a different name. Given the storied history buildings such as the one we seek to replace need to be upgraded for the modern era. Moving from the emotional appeal to logic. Only 25% of businesses make it beyond 15 years in operation, on average. The Plant House has been in operation for 56 years. A business survives that long by dedication to quality both with your products and your services. Quality coupled with a strong self discipline in your practices make for a winning combination that has guided The Plant House to be able to last as long as it has. Those two things are a winning formula for a grant, as the money will not be wasted. An investment in The Plant House is an investment in this community.
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Self Identified Competition
Walmart 1605 S Main St, Maryville, MO 64468 Seasonal competition they have lower prices, but their quality is abysmal. This Walmart store historically has not sold many perennials eliminating them from that market. Ace Hardware 1409 S Main St, Maryville, MO 64468 Toughest competition as far as finished perennials are concerned, but again our quality through bedding plants and vegetables far exceeds theirs. In addition, we have a larger selection than they do. They however also sell bulk seed which besides us they are the only other business to do so. Our prices on the finished perennials are roughly the same or a bit lower than Ace. Hy-vee 1217 S Main St, Maryville, MO 64468 Very seasonal. More interested in selling groceries. The selection is basic and of middling quality. The price point is comparable to ours but we are higher. Historically has not sold perennials Sutherlands 1718 S Main St, Maryville, MO 64468 A strong competitor in the vegetable market, until a cold night or a missed watering and then quality drops off precipitously. No bedding plant or perennial offering to speak of. Has a larger selection of packaged seed. Tractor supply 2405 S Main St, Maryville, MO 64468 A stronger competitor in the perennial market especially trees, they are the only competitor that has historically had any trees. They also have a middling offering to the seed market and the vegetable categories. However, like all of these competitors their concern is not the plants or selling them, and they are done with their season at the end of May. There are a few competitive edges that we carry over the competition in our market. First and foremost is the dedication to customer service. The Plant House since 1967 has always been a place to go to receive complete planting advice and design input. Additionally, The Plant House has a much broader offering than the local competition, in fact, we offer more variety than some stores in much larger markets such as Kansas City. In our market the nearest competitors cannot match the quality we provide in the product. Our plants last longer, bloom bigger, and yield more produce than those of our local competition.
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