Elaine Pence
If you know a landscape architect or designer anywhere in Central Kentucky, they know Elaine Pence. She is the owner of Landscaper’s Corner (landscaperscorner.com), a landscape supply company on Old Frankfort Pike located on just over an acre of land.
“We service most of the high-end landscape companies in our area,” Pence said. “We carry only the best quality products here at Landscaper’s Corner. That sets us apart and our customers expect quality products at affordable pricing.”
Open year-round and open to the public, Landscaper’s Corner has seven full-time employees and four part-time seasonal employees. The clientele base is typically 85 percent contractors and 15 percent residential customers, Pence said. March through October is the high season for landscaping services, when the business will serve about 250 customers and make about 30 deliveries a day.
“We have had an awesome spring. We have learned to adapt to the changing of times. We hope to continue a strong season.” — Elaine Pence, owner, Landscaper's Corner
“We have had an awesome spring,” Pence said, noting that the business has remained open throughout the pandemic and as landscape professionals and homeowners continue to work on their properties. “We have learned to adapt to the changing of times. We hope to continue a strong season.”
Landscaper’s Corner is known for having large selections of natural stone, mulches, soil and soil amendments, baled pine straw, grass seeds, fertilizers, tools, wheat straw and decorative gravels.
“We’ve hired extra people to answer the phone and take deliveries,” Pence said. “We’re doing the social distancing, meeting everybody at their vehicle.”
Landscaper’s Corner continues to offer curbside service, phone-in orders and delivery for customers within Central Kentucky. Pence is typically in the middle of the action, answering the phones, taking orders, loading customers’ trucks and directing traffic. For big mulch loads, stone and other large orders, Pence is able to estimate how material the customer will need by using a cubic yard bucket instead of a scoop. “The cubic yard bucket is a unit of measurement, so we are able to calculate with accuracy how much material you will need for your application,” she said.
A Lexington native, Pence is a graduate of Bryan Station High School and has a background in accounting and business. She worked at Paul Miller Ford in the business office, and then in the finance department with commercial truck sales. “That experience has helped me,” she said. “However, I knew nothing about mulches when I started this business. A weekend project was the spearhead for the conception of Landscaper’s Corner.”
She started the company with her husband, Bill Pence, in 2005 at the Old Frankfort Pike property that has been in the Pence family since 1956. “We started small, and by the grace of God we have grown each year,” she said. “A lot of doors were opened, a lot of prayers answered, and a lot of hard work and sacrifice has brought us to this point. We feel very blessed to have earned the business and respect of Central Kentucky.”
The Pences built the business on honesty and integrity, treating customers as they would want to be treated. “I have learned that I cannot please everyone, but I try my best to resolve any conflict that may arise,” she said. “I never thought that this business would be this successful for 15 years and still going strong.”
She credits her clientele, many of whom have done business with Landscaper’s Corner for many years, for their continued support of the local, family-owned business.
As Pence says in the radio commercials she records for Landscaper’s Corner: “We look forward to seeing you soon and we truly appreciate your business.”