 stores add destination to mix by wendy bedwellwilson water garden news march 2008 wakoola water gardens and walter andersen nursery attract customers with trains trails and tranquil settings when cla allgood designed wakoola water gardens in cumming ga in 2001 he wanted to create an extraordinary shopping experience for his customers he had no idea however that his garden would appeal to area hikers picnickers and even bridal parties we ve had two or three weddings here allgood said some people bring their lunch or they ll leave go get their friends and come back in fact a lot of people don t understand that we re commercial we ve actually had people get mad that we don t have more trails to walk through president of walter andersen nursery walter andersen jr and his son ken andersen vice president of nursery operations enjoy the same destinationretailer status in southern california their san diego store established in 1928 specializes in unique plants their newer poway store draws visitors with its outdoor garden trains our san diego store is really a plantlovers nursery ken andersen said we have unusual and exotic plants we also have the knowledgeable staff to back up the sales so the customers are comfortable with what they re doing what we have in our poway store that makes us a destination is a rather large garden railway layout he said it s big it can run up to six trains at one time allgood and the andersens tapped into a lucrative approach for increasing traffic to their garden centers it took some eyecatching draw planning and creative advertising wow customers with whimsy though quite different these destination retailers have two things in common they differentiate themselves from garden centers by transforming their retail shops into botanical wonderlands and by creating fun engaging environments for customers there s a sense of discovery here and that was a part of our design process allgood said add more than 4 acres of naturallooking gardens and suddenly it becomes a virtual nature preserve what s neat is we have so many plants that are literally planted in among our inventory that we have a very full look even when our inventory is down during the winter allgood said the botanicalgarden aspect of it is still here walter andersen nursery uses a similar approach our stores look different from bigbox stores andersen jr said every nursery has its own character it just grows some of it s by design but some of it just happens it turns out for the best the naturallooking environment draws people who seek solitude and tranquility andersen jr recalled a customer who simply enjoyed the quiet earl owned a shopping center miles from the garden andersen jr said he was always fighting with the tenants trying to collect rent he told me he came in because it s peaceful and quiet the people are friendly all the plants are in bloom and it s cheaper than going to see a psychiatrist besides offering a ratrace respite these retailers give their customers other reasons to visit their stores including seminars and garden railways wakoola water gardens for example provides an onsite classroom for seminars and events as well as a laboratory for testing pond supplies at andersen s poway store the garden railway display draws train hobbyists and provides a whimsical distraction for shoppers of all ages people come to see the railway layout andersen said the railway also helps our customers who are shopping with their children they ll send the kids over to watch the train the kids watch the train while the parents do their shopping  plan for success creating a destination garden for pond hobbyists is not easy allgood and the andersens said planning and publicity helped draw customers and some unexpected business at wakoola water gardens allgood made sure that his layout differed from other garden centers and bigbox stores we planned it to be a destination we wanted it to look like a nostalgic place where you ve been before we created it to look like a touristtype place in florida allgood added meandering paths benches a formal lawn and stunning vistas to add to the botanical garden feel we also left a lot of trees standing around in the front and on the sides to keep it isolated away from other developments in the community he said walter andersen nursery s expanded garden railway display installed several years after the poway store was built nearly swallowed the water garden display ponds quick thinking saved the features we incorporated water features in our railway layout that are actually our stock tanks andersen said so all the pond areas within the expanded layout are actually stockable and retailsales space planning is not the only thing that makes destination retailers successful it requires developed publicity strategies from traditional advertising to unconventional promotions wakoola water gardens and walter andersen nursery use a variety of methods to welcome foot traffic allgood prefers to advertise his specials in local newspapers and magazines what we try to do is will by selection and try to carry those specialized items that are awkward to buy over the internet and larger items things that are one of a kind he said then we try to make the difference up with our staff s good will and training wakoola also acts as a knowledge center for hobbyists in allgood s onsite laboratory his staff tests products for quality control we opened up thinking that we d be dispensing information but now our job is to gather it allgood said we get a lot of testimonial from our managers about products they really like and how they use them when you deal with people face to face and they show up with pictures of their ponds and you talk to them the aspects of a brickandmortar store really shine because you start learning from their mistakes he said sometimes you learn from what they did right rather than rely on advertising walter andersen nursery lets customers do the talking a directmail campaign alerts customers about monthly specials the andersens also formed alliances with area clubs such as san diego rose society and the local railway society we found that those are very effective ways to bring people into the store andersen said adding that they draw visitors from as far as 100 miles away our name is pretty well out there andersen jr said we have some customers who come from 20 or 30 miles away occasionally we have customers from the los angeles area come down too  