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Top Shops: Goodwin's Nursery
Florists in the News |
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Written by Top Shops
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Bridging Success Goodwin’s Nursery a favourite from east to west
AT A GLANCE
Company Name: Goodwin’s Nursery
Location: Sydney Mines, N.S.
Owner: Bob Ings
Years in Business: 86
Wire Services: FTD, Teleflora |
In the small town of Sydney Mines, N.S., Goodwin’s Nursery is a multigenerational florist that’s perfected the ability to deliver both the young and old exactly what they want.
Owner Bob Ings has been at the helm of the multigenerational shop for more than 30 years. The staff at Goodwin’s Nursery is composed of close family – Bob’s two sisters and daughter Trinity Ings are all full-time employees – along with two part-time staff members.
Oftentimes, Bob’s father and retired owner Angus Ings can also be found helping out at the nursery’s remaining greenhouse, growing bedding plants for friends and family or crafting evergreen wreaths during the Christmas season.
 Family has been the foundation for Goodwin’s Nursery. The operation first began in 1922 when Bob’s grandfather Robert Goodwin moved to Sydney Mines from London after the First World War to work in the coal mines. Goodwin started up an English-style greenhouse as a hobby and grew bedding plants and it soon evolved into a business. In 1950, Robert’s son-in-law Angus Ings took over Goodwin’s Nursery and added two more greenhouses and a flower shop. Over time, it eventually became more profitable to import flowers than to grow them and more emphasis was placed on the flower shop. Bob Ings became involved with the business in 1968 and took over as owner in the mid-’70s.
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(Left to right) Designer Mary Rafuse, Trinity and her daughter Toby, owner Bob Ings and Kathy O’Toole, who takes care of sales.
Below: Trinity Ings, the shop’s wedding specialist, with her four-month-old daughter Toby.
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The shop has since grown to 1,200 square feet and is now a full-service florist serving the 7,000 residents of Sydney Mines as well as the neighbouring towns of North Sydney and Florence. Ings refers to the area as “almost a retirement community” and, to cater to an older clientele, Goodwin’s Nursery carries a range of popular everyday flowers along with a few tropicals for special occasions. Ings says his customers “like a flower that is long-lasting” and approximately 75 per cent opt for more traditional styles and designs. He finds that his customers also prefer more cost-effective products and for floral occasions like Valentine’s Day, Goodwin’s Nurseries tries to carry a selection in the $25-30 range. “It’s not an area of a lot of affluence,” Ings says of Sydney Mines. He finds that offering pre-arranged bouquets with flowers other than roses works well at the shop. Another cost-saving idea for customers occurs during the holiday season. At Christmas time, Goodwin’s Nursery carries seasonal cut flower arrangements in vases. Ings says the shop has between 30 and 40 customers that bring the vase back the following year to have a fresh arrangement done up in the vase.
When it comes to sourcing his supplies, Ings says very little floral product is grown in the Maritimes, with the exception of plants. He imports most of his basic flowers from Ontario. “The quality is good and the shipping companies are more conscious of how the flowers are handled,” he says of the two-day journey from Ontario to Nova Scotia. Ings orders much of his foreign-imported product from Halifax and, because the capital is 400 kilometres away, it’s possible to receive the shipment overnight.
In the winter, Halifax can become a more reliable source for flowers as winter storms can tack on extra days to the Ontario trip.
 Over the past few years, Goodwin’s Nursery has adapted its services to appeal to both the older generation that resides in town and a younger group of customers that lives on the other side of the country. Like many towns in the Maritimes, Sydney Mines has seen an exodus of young residents from the community to the west, where jobs are more plentiful. Despite the move, many of the 20-somethings who find work in Alberta still return to marry and Goodwin’s Nursery has found a way to target this market. Ings’ daughter Trinity now manages the wedding and event side of the business, which Ings says has really taken off in the past couple of years. Before joining the shop full time, Trinity trained with Neville MacKay of My Mother’s Bloomers in Halifax and also worked for another florist. “She learned a lot about wedding decorating and the flair for non-traditional,” says Ings. When she returned home to Sydney Mines, Trinity passed along all that she had learned.
Bob estimates that in 2007 the shop did between 75 and 80 weddings and events, and, at times, had three booked one week. Three years ago, he estimates that they only did four or five. “Before, we were almost afraid of weddings but now they’ve become real money makers.” In addition to providing flowers, Trinity also takes care of decorating the venue for the event, right down to the linens and backdrops. She’s become a lifesaver for brides stuck planning a wedding from the other side of the country.
Bob Ings says Trinity can also offer her clients the modern styles and designs that big city brides in places like Calgary and Edmonton are looking for. “They’re seeing some ideas out there and then e-mailing us pictures. Most of what they want has got more flair than what we offer to customers here,” says Ings. Gerberas in hot pinks and bright colours are often in demand from western brides while Ings says red roses suit local Sydney Mines brides just fine.
In terms of promoting the business, Ings says the shop sets up a booth each year at the Cape Breton County Exhibition, an annual agriculture event. For the last couple of years, the florist has promoted the wedding side of the business with great success. The show is also an opportunity to help out the community as the florist donates roses to raise money for the Children’s Television Network and a health centre in Halifax.
Because the shop is located in a small community, Ings says advertising mediums like the Internet haven’t proven successful as of yet. The florist, at one time, had a local website built, but Ings says it didn’t attract as much business as placing an ad in the newspaper or YellowPages traditionally does in Sydney Mines. On the flip side, Ings says getting their own toll-free number has been one thing that has really helped to bring a lot of business in. He finds more people calling the shop directly rather than placing orders through wire services like Teleflora or FTD, both of which Goodwin’s Nursery belong to. He says the staff mainly depend on the wire service for their customers who like to send orders and the shop usually tries to call a florist personally whenever they can.
With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, Ings says one of the best pieces of advice he can offer other florists is to talk with their customers. “If you’re face to face, you can offer advice on how to handle flowers.” Ings has discovered that a lot of his customers are afraid to properly care for flowers because they think they are too delicate.
Ings and the staff at Goodwin’s Nursery have found that taking the time to show your customers how to love their flowers is a sure way to keep those customers coming back for more.
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