Jul 31, 2019

Five Decades Strong By Tim Hodson

Midwest Groundcovers in St. Charles, Illinois, is celebrating its 50th year in business in 2019.

The big grower started out as a 5-acre nursery and has grown to become a five-location operation spanning 700 acres across two states.

As the company celebrates its half century birthday, Jasmina Dolce profiled Midwest Groundcovers in the July issue of GPN’s Big Grower.

The company was founded by Peter and Irma Orum in 1969. Peter immigrated to the United States in 1965 after he gained a deep knowledge and understanding of horticulture while training at his father’s 2-acre nursery in Denmark.

In the early days, Peter worked on the horticulture side of Midwest Groundcovers, while Irma nurtured the business side and helped with day-to-day nursery operations — all while caring for their home and growing family.

Today, Peter has stepped back to pursue other aspects of the business, and handed over the reigns of the company to his daughter, Christa Orum-Keller. Christa was named chairman in 2017 and, this year, president of the company.

In her new roles, Christa has been committed to taking the company’s product offering and service to the next level.

You can read more about how Christa and Peter are meeting the needs of their customers and about Midwest Groundcovers’ 50-year journey in Jasmina’s cover story, “Covering Ground: Five Decades Strong“.

— Tim

Lowe’s Opens New Distribution Facility in Pennsylvania

Lowe’s has opened a new 1.2 million-square-foot distribution facility in central Pennsylvania. According to www.pennlive.com, the new facility will supply inventory to more than 130 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. The new facility, located in Shippensburg, is expected to add 100 new jobs to the region. The new distribution center is scheduled to begin shipping inventory to stores later this month.

Home Depot Exec: Future Growth Tied to Millennials ‘Investing’ in Their Home

The Home Depot thinks it has found a way to tap into the wallets of millennials as the generation becomes new homeowners. Many of today’s millennial homeowners view their purchases as investments rather than expenses so they tend to spend even more on their homes. In a recent interview on CNBC, the company’s chief financial officer, Carol Tomé, said “[Millennials have] told us through our research, ‘We want to work on our house because we think it’s a good investment.’ So that’s music to our ears.” She said the company is targeting this emerging demographic as they invest in major home improvement and landscape projects.

Sam’s Club Offers Same Day Pickup at All Stores

Last month, Sam’s Club rolled out Same Day Club Pickup to all clubs nationwide. Now, Sam’s Club members who place orders through SamsClub.com or the Sam’s Club app can pick up their orders the same day. Members will receive a text or email message when their order is ready. There is no minimum dollar amount to order using Same Day Club Pickup and is free for all Sam’s Club members. Select clubs offer either a drive-through lane or designated curbside parking spots for members to use when picking up their orders.