Annual P&L Study 2020 - It was a WOW Year!

by Tim Quebedeaux

For the P&L Study 2020, one word is being used to describe it… WOW! Even with our expectations of a great year, we were still amazed at what was reported.

Let’s start with how revenues increased year over year. The previous year revenues increased 2019 over 2018 at 2.2% compared to 25.1% increase for 2019 over 2020. Amazing! This graphic below illustrates how the 5 year trend of a typical Center with $1 million in sales has grown over the period and the dramatic affects of the 2020 year results.

Finger on the Pulse!

by Danny Summers

This is a very important function of managing your Garden Center today. One of the major benefits of Group participation was most evident in the spring of last year. I remember it very well, just like it was yesterday.

It was Monday, March 23rd, the beginning of Week 13 and that was when we saw the first of our centers being forced to close due to state mandates. Fortunately that Center was in the middle part of the country where spring had not really began yet. Over the next few weeks, most all centers began to deal with new issues, whether business restrictions, new safety protocols and of course staffing issues.  Many Centers had to quickly assess their position with large portions of in-bound orders scheduled for delivery and how they would be able to serve their customers in the coming weeks. In addition, they were wondering what the reaction to stay-at-home orders would be in the minds of the customer. One very important Group connection point was the ability for Centers in the middle to northern portions of the country to watch what was happening down south. Let's look at a few figures from the Weekly Department Review (WDR) from a few of those weeks.