Friendly staff, a carefully curated selection of plants, great prices and a dash of business savvy have earned Kopke’s Greenhouse a People’s Choice award for Best Local Garden Center for the fourth year in a row.
This impressive winning streak comes as no surprise to customers who know that Kopke’s stocks plants expertly selected with them in mind. Complete novices to gardening are guided to easy-to-grow options by staff eager to share their expertise. Those with a proven green thumb will find rare varieties that transform their hard-earned wisdom into beautiful blooms and head-turning landscapes.
“We try to make sure that we have plants that are easy to grow, plants that are maybe more intermediate level and, of course, plants that you really need to know what you’re doing if you want them to perform the way they do in the catalog,” said Josh Smith, vice president of Kopke’s Fruit of the Bloom Inc.
Seasonal offerings vary each year, with staples typically including annuals such as petunias, geraniums and marigolds, as well as tomatoes, peppers and hot peppers. But regardless of the season, Kopke’s shoppers can rest assured that the selection was carefully chosen with an eye toward how well each plant performs in the varying climates and microclimates of southern Wisconsin.
“Our typical spring season starts the year before,” said Smith. For example, the shipment process for fertilizers and soils ensures they’re delivered by February, allowing Kopke’s to have everything customers need lined up in time for growing season. “We try to time everything so that on Mother’s Day weekend, everything is absolutely perfect and beautiful.”
Another key to Kopke’s success: great prices, which draw in new customers and glowing Yelp reviews that praise the retailer as “reasonably priced,” especially for “the amount of plants you get.”
Kopke’s Greenhouse’s stellar customer service comes from knowledgeable staff who don’t just help shoppers find plant varieties that fit their goals — they go above and beyond, helping customers brainstorm garden designs and assortments that complement each other.
This great shopping experience didn’t happen by accident. Instead, it comes from the smart business strategy of Kopke’s leadership team. Unlike other companies that merely try to copy their competitors’ successes, Smith analyzes other garden centers’ mistakes — how and where they underperform — in order to offer customers the outstanding shopping experience they can’t find anywhere else.
“From a business perspective, I’ve always held the idea that if you’re going to look at your competition, don’t try to emulate what they’re doing well,” he said. “Figure out what they’re not doing well and do that better than anybody else, and you’re almost guaranteed to have success on your hands.”
But in the end, it’s the friendly, highly knowledgeable staff that have kept Kopke’s customers coming back for more than four decades. As Smith said, it’s “simply having those faces that they see every year on the floor to help them, who oftentimes know their name and say hi when they walk in the door.”
Kopke’s Greenhouse is located at 1828 Sand Hill Road in Oregon, Wisconsin. For more information, visit kopkesgreenhouse.com or call 608.835.7569.
