Demand is not the problem in the death-care industry; it’s shrinking inventory.
The grave issue facing cemetery owners today, especially those in urban areas, is that there are simply fewer places left to dig.
“We’re landlocked,” says Edward Laux, president and chief executive of The Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, N.Y. Founded in 1863, Woodlawn Cemetery spans 400 acres but has only 3 acres left for in-ground burial.
Even if nearby land was available for expansion, securing it is an uphill battle, involving rezoning, red tape and some savvy public relations.
People often adopt a NIMBY attitude in the face of cemetery development, experts say. And because graveyards don’t contribute greatly to tax coffers, municipal authorities aren’t excited about giving ground.
Some cities even have statutes that prevent cemetery expansion.
“The philosophy of regulators is that land should be used for the living rather than to make provisions for the dead,” says Laux, who serves as president for the Funeral and Memorial Information Council, an umbrella organization for different death-care groups.
Of course, not all cemeteries face a land crisis. For instance, at Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum in Cincinnati, more than 300 acres of its total 733-acre parcel remain untouched.
Still, efficient land use is an industry-wide priority–even for cemeteries with acreage to spare.
Continual flow of new revenues is needed to help foot property maintenance bills. Like other businesses, cemeteries face increasing expenses, competitive pressures and tighter margins. Unlike other businesses, there are limited ways to generate new funds.
Some cemeteries with extra acreage do consider selling off land as means of raising capital. But this is a slim percentage.
“Land is our most important resource,” stresses Thomas L. Smith, senior vice president at Spring Grove. “Once we’re out of land, what do we have?”
Spring Grove has turned away many land-hungry developers knocking at its gates. However, the cemetery uses its undeveloped land to generate additional revenues by hosting occasional occasional timber sales.
In recent years, master planning has become crucial for successful cemeteries.
“If you don’t have a roadmap, you don’t know where you’re going to wind up,” says Todd Malone, general manager of Chicago’s Rosehill Cemetery, which has 50 acres left to develop of a total 320 acres.
One solution to the land crunch question is mausoleums. “If you can’t go out, you can go up,” says Malone. Two years ago, Rosehill built an addition to its community mausoleum, adding space for 1,200 new crypts.
Not only do mausoleums save space, they can utilize land not suitable for burial.
More good news: mausoleums are a big boon from a fiscal standpoint. For in-ground plots, development has to be done in advance of sales, Smith points out. Yet thanks to computer-aided design systems, cemeteries can sell space in mausoleums from blueprints, much like home builders selling a brand new subdivision.
“It helps us stay ahead of the cash curve,” Smith says. “Cemeteries not using mausoleums are missing the boat.”
The increasing popularity of cremation is also a shot-in-the-arm for land-conscious cemeteries.
The U.S. cremation rate has risen from 5 percent in 1972 to 20.6 percent in 1994, according to the Cremation Association of North America (CANO). And numbers should continue to rise, says Jack Springer, executive director of CANO, reporting that the cremation rate is expected to reach 31.3 percent by 2010.
Experts chalk up the increase to several reasons. Some people prefer cremation for ecological reasons. Others opt for it because of logistics: cremation allows services to be postponed, making arrangements easier for families scattered around the country.
Still, acceptance varies considerably from region to region. Cremation rates on the West Coast exceed 40 percent compared with about 17 percent in the Midwest.
Capitalizing on the rising popularity of cremation, cemeteries are providing urn gardens (places to bury urns), scattering gardens and columbariums (walls with niches for cremated remains). Columbariums can be part of a mausoleum or free-standing structures.
“Cremation will change the whole profile of the industry,” says Springer. “They (cemeteries) can’t ignore it.”
Although cemeteries are pretty assured of consumer demand, owners and operators still must pay attention to changing demographics and trends.
At Rosehill, the customer base was once primarily Protestant and Catholic. Yet today there is a new Asian accent, reflecting the move of Koreans, Chinese and Philippinos into the surrounding neighborhoods.
Each ethnic group has different ideas about burial, says Malone. The Chinese, for example, prefer upright monuments, which require a larger plot.
“Cemeteries have to give consumers what they want,” says Steve Morgan, executive director of the American Cemetery Association in Arlington Heights, Va.
With that in mind, today’s cemeteries are better planned and feature more landscaping, says Donald Ward, a principal with Grever & Ward, cemetery planners in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Being consumer-driven is a matter of form and function, explains Ward. Pedestrian walkways give visitors greater access while still conserving land. Planting trees of different varieties helps with air pollution while adding visual interest; some cemeteries become kaleidoscopes of color in autumn.
Indeed, image can’t be neglected, especially today, experts agree.
Although cemeteries once drew large crowds each Sunday as families flocked to pay respects to departed loved ones, a more fragmented society has meant less visitation and lower awareness for cemeteries–factors that are detrimental to the death-care industry.
“Hollywood has done nothing to help our image,” says Laux, referring to films depicting foggy swamps with bodies rising up out of the mist and vampires flitting about monuments.
Cemeteries are working hard to dispel this shady stereotype by beefing up marketing muscle. Woodlawn Cemetery has been a pioneer in hosting community events on its grounds, drawing thousands to its annual Memorial Day concert. Bringing people in the gates for special events builds awareness on a variety of levels, experts say.
“Cemeteries are repositories of history,” says Laux, noting that Woodlawn is the final resting place for Joseph Pulitzer, members of the Woolworth and the Post cereal families and other well-known figures.
In addition to providing history lessons, cemeteries are “greenbelts for the living,” says Smith. Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum plays host to bird-watching groups, walkathons, pruning and planting seminars, Boy Scout camps, even National Guard meetings.
“But we do have guidelines,” Smith says.”We don’t have baseball games on the sections.”
IT’S LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION TO THE LAST
Just as “location, location, location” drives buying and selling in the residential real estate arena, it also applies to cemetery space.
Consumer prices fluctuate around the country with burial space in the Midwest and East being less expensive than the West Coast, observes Donald Eiesland, president of Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, Calif., and president of the American Cemetery Association. However, accessories such as monuments, tend to cost more in those areas where space is cheaper, adds Eiesland.
Location also has impact within a cemetery, with price influenced by plot position.
Sites near historical sections command a higher pricetag, as do areas with aesthetic amenities such as lakes. Roadside plots are also popular–and pricier–because of the higher degree of accessibility for visitors.
The “location” maxim also extends to mausoleums with most sought-after space being the second and third levels, followed by the first and fourth.
Cemeteries need to offer product that spans the economic scale, says Eiesland: “Consumers are better educated, they want more choice.”
Although consumers are shopping earlier, they’re buying less. Whereas a couple once purchased a dozen plots, enough for their children and grandchildren, today it’s a “his and her” acquisition.
This shift in buying patterns reflects today’s mobile society. And cemetery shoppers want to be certain about their arrangements, because relocation can wreak havoc with resale.
Some cemeteries, especially those with dwindling inventory, will buy space back, but at a greatly reduced price. About 45 percent of proceeds are immediately eaten up by marketing costs, points out Barbara Heston, owner of Michigan Memorial Park Cemetery in Flat Rock, Mich.
Heston advises anyone holding unwanted space to try selling it privately. Another option is to swap space through the ACA’s exchange program.
Cremation often is perceived as less expensive. Yet funeral cost is more influenced by pomp and circumstance of services than whether the deceased is in an urn or a coffin, says Jack Springer, executive director of the Cremation Association of North America. In Japan, where the cremation rate is 97 percent, average funeral cost is well above $10,000 compared to $4,500 in the U.S.
Because the cemetery retains land ownership, consumers are purchasing burial rights.
“Similar to a condo association, you are bound by rules of a cemetery,” says Betty Murray, executive director for the National Foundation of Funeral Services in Des Plaines.
Rules are not meant to restrict newcomers, but to protect tenants, points out Todd Malone, Rosehill’s general manager. After all, in cemetery circles “customer service goes on forever.”
