Lexington, KY - Fayette Seed, like a well-tended garden, is deeply rooted. Its first Lexington location, starting in 1934, was on Rose Street, near Main. Later, it thrived when transplanted to another location on Rose Street, then to South Broadway in 1968, and finally to Red Mile Road, where it has been since 1988.
Just as a wise gardener alters the mix of water and nutrients so that his plants can adjust to changing growing conditions, Fayette Seed's owners have kept their business growing by adjusting their products to meet the needs of a changing clientele.
The company began as an agricultural business, supplying farmers with seed and other supplies they needed to grow crops.
When the store was downtown, "sales were 80 to 90 percent to farms," said Jerry Goins, co-owner with his wife, Karen. "From 1969 on, at Broadway, we began selling more and more garden and lawn care products."
"By the 1980s, the business was about (70 percent) gardening, compared to farming," Goins said. "Today, with the lack of farmland, it's about 95 percent from residential customers. Farmers buy turf seed to grow sod to sell to landscapers and developers."
As the store's name suggests, seeds are a major part of the business. Wooden bins hold colorful packets of flower and vegetable seeds from three national companies: Burpee, Livingston and Ferry-Morse. Goins buys vegetable seeds in bulk from the same Western growers that commercial seed companies use and repackages them under the store's own label in different sizes. That practice allows him to pass on savings to customers.
"Where national companies sell the seeds for $1.79 to $2.79 a package, we can offer them at $.95 to $1.25," Goins explained.
When the weather is warm enough for planting, Fayette Seed will have Jackson & Perkins rose bushes and a variety of vegetable and flower plants from a local grower.
Best-selling seeds include beans (white half runner, Roma, and Blue Lake and Tenderette varieties), corn (Silver Queen, Silver King, How Sweet It Is varieties), and peas (Dwarf Sugar, Sugar Snap, Sugar Ann varieties). In terms of plants, local gardeners buy the most of sweet onions (such as the Vidalia type), peppers and tomatoes.
"It's incredible how many tomato plants we sell," said Goins. "We carry over 50 varieties, including heirlooms."
The 3,000-square-foot store carries grass seed and lawn care products by Greenview. The slowed economy has resulted in people handling lawn care themselves but making fewer applications of products. Goins estimated that the sale of plants, seeds, and gardening items comprises about 60 percent of his business, as opposed to lawn care items.
For Goins, the best part of the business (aside from working with his wife, who handles the financial side) is Saturdays in spring. Those busy days, with customers eager to get started on their gardens, are the most enjoyable to him.
"You see faces you haven't seen since last spring," he said.
He also gets a lot of satisfaction from helping customers solve problems.
"Somebody comes into your store worried, not knowing what to do. When you can help him out and it won't cost much, that's a good feeling," he added.
The most difficult part of his work is that "the weather absolutely controls the business. We hope the weather cooperates and then that the customers get good weather for planting," Goins said.
New products this spring include Livingston seeds for fancy radishes that look like watermelons (red on the inside) and Jeff's all-organic growing mix.
"It's a good fertilizer for people who don't want to use chemicals," Goins said.
Seed starting trays and pots, peat moss, vermiculite, flower pots, bird seed, gardening books, spreaders, hand tools and a variety of hoses and sprinklers are among the essential and useful gardening items available. Fayette Seed competes successfully against larger competitors through "knowledge and experience," Goins said.
"When you've done something as long as our staff members have, you know what to do. The guy in the gardening center at a big store may have been working in paints the day before," Goins said.
Goins hires mostly retired people for part-time seasonal help to supplement the store's five full-time employees, he said. He's found that college students just don't have enough gardening experience to help customers.
"By far, the majority of our customers are repeat customers," Goins said. And often on those busy spring Saturdays when a customer asks a question, before Goins or another employee can answer him, another customer advises him.