Louisiana Nursery founder Roger Mayes was being laid off. It wasn’t just him, Woolco, one of the country’s largest retailers announced it was closing all US stores in 1982. Roger, who had dedicated 25 years to the company didn’t want to work for another corporation, and his family had deep roots in Baton Rouge. He decided to make a bold move and open a lawn and garden business. After all, his group of Woolco stores had the top volume lawn and garden departments in the company and he knew quite a bit about the business. Roger gathered much of his savings, eventually took out a second mortgage on the house and made the leap.
Planting the Seed
In 1983, while riding down Florida Boulevard, Roger noticed a guy selling firewood on the southwest corner of Florida and Flannery—a prime location where a McDonald’s stands today. He discovered that the property belonged to the Baptist Children’s Home out of Monroe, LA, and soon made arrangements to rent the location for his new lawn and garden business, which he opened in February of 1983.
Early Challenges
On the first day open, Roger was met face-to-face with the reality of running a garden center. “I thought I knew quite a bit about the business,” recalled Mayes. “One of the first customers asked if I carried Coral Bells Azalea. We had thousands of azaleas all mixed together and panic hit me when I realized, you know what, there’s more than one variety. I knew right away I needed to hire more plant experts, which we still pride ourselves in today.” Roger’s son Mitch Mayes remembers there were other challenges early on. “That first store’s low elevation meant it could get a little muddy after a rain. We had to rent fork lifts to move the products and we kept getting them stuck. Soon, none of the companies would rent fork lifts to us anymore and we had to unload products like heavy stepping stones and mulch by hand.”
Rising Son
Mitch took an immediate liking to the business and was passionate in his pursuit of plant knowledge. He went to LSU and took horticulture classes, but longed to spend more time at the nursery. “I insisted Mitch go to school because I didn’t know if the business would succeed long-term,” explained Roger. “One day he came to me and said, ‘Dad, why am I even going to college? I want to work in the family business.’ So Mitch kind of spurred the ‘family business’ idea and he went on to immerse himself in plant education. Today, I believe he could very well be the most knowledgeable plant person in Louisiana when it comes to managing and sourcing plants.”
You Lose One. You Gain Two.
In 1984, Roger was presented the chance to take over the Imahara Garden Center retail outlet on Florida Blvd., owned by renowned Baton Rouge landscaper, Walter Imahara. Next, Louisiana Nursery opened a seasonal location at the corner of Airline and Coursey that had once been a mobile home dealership and later moved to the permanent Coursey location. The Perkins Road store opened in 1986. At that time, the business was called Louisiana Nursery Outlet operating as a bareboned discount nursery. In 1989, the company decided to transition to a more upscale brand, joined a national co-op and changed the name to Louisiana Nursery Home & Garden Showplace with the goal of being a top-notch, full-service garden center. In 2005, it opened its newest store off Highway 42 in Prairieville and closed the Florida Blvd. store in 2010. The Prairieville location has since undergone a massive remodel.
From Pet Food to Beanie Babies
When you’ve been in business for 40 years, you see a lot of products and fads come and go. “When we opened up the Coursey stores we had a large pet department with over 32 feet of pet food, leashes, collars, toys and more,” said Mitch. “We finally decided that wasn’t our cup of tea.” Mitch also remembers when Beanie Babies were all the rage. “We started a Beanie Baby hotline that people could call to see when the new shipments were arriving. We had an event at the stores one Saturday and did $25,000 in Beanie Babies before noon and one year we sold $100,000 from a Beanie Baby gumball machine.”
In March of 2009, Roger turned over the lead position to Mitch, who now serves as president. Today, Louisiana Nursery is one of the largest independent retail gardening centers in the south and 36th in the US. Each nursery location houses over 2.5 acres of plants, gardening supplies, outdoor living items, home décor, collectables and more. The stores become a one-stop holiday shop late in the year and sell over 8,000 live Christmas trees. The company proudly boasts a number of team members who have been with the company for 10, 20, 30 and even 40 years—some of those that have retired even come back and work seasonally. Louisiana Nursery is proud to continue offering customers the highest quality lawn and garden shopping experience. Stop in this year and wish them a happy 40th anniversary.
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