They’re baaaaaaaack. The lawnmowers and garden hoses, the sacks of fertilizer and tuberous begonias, the seeds and sprinkling cans, the patio furniture and plastic plates.
Inside garden centers and houseware stores, it has looked like spring for several weeks. They’re predicting strong sales throughout a season that now exists mostly in their minds.
Whereas Thanksgiving weekend traditionally sets off Christmas buying, it takes more than March 20, the official end of winter, to kick off a spring spending spree.
Customers, you see, are oblivious to the retail calendar, preferring instead to replenish their supplies of entertaining essentials and lawn equipment when the temperature tempts them out of hibernation.
“As soon as a little bit of nice weather comes along, people start thinking about home improvement projects or their gardens,” says Rick Kwasneski, manager of Builders Square in Bolingbrook, a home center warehouse. “If we see a good 10-day forecast, then we’ll start rolling out the trees, the shrubs, etc.”
Gentle temperatures drive sales at Crate & Barrel, too. The furnishings and housewares chain’s flagship store on Michigan Avenue relies on steady pedestrian traffic, which usually picks up at Easter.
“Who comes to Chicago in January and February for vacation?” asks Lucy Farr, the store’s general manager. “People start coming here over Easter weekend, and the weddings start in April and May. We have a huge bridal business, and it always increases in the spring and summer.”
Some people are just plain eager.
“We’re getting people in here who are dying for spring to start,” says Judi Phillips, who works at the Fertile Delta plant store in Chicago during the winter and will manage its outlet, the Sunshine Garden Center, when it reopens in April. “For those people who need to start digging in the dirt even with the snow on the ground, we’re selling seeds and dirt they can use indoors. All it will take is one nice, warm day, and we’ll be really busy.” –
