The Garden Gate
Metairie, LA
Chad Harris, Co-founder
Number Of Stores: Just 1 retail since Katrina, 1 main office, 1 growing facility to supply retail
Year Opened: 1999 | Sales Volume: Over $1 Million
Type of Products: French Home and Garden
Tell us about your retail shop and why you feel it is a success:
On my 11th birthday, it all came to me; I could make money the old fashioned way, mowing neighborhood lawns. During these early years, I became inspired by flowering gardens and the changes they encountered. Years later, my love--or fascination--with gardening is more alive than ever. I found myself dreaming of a place for everyone to enjoy. This became reality when Beth and I opened The Garden Gate. We are a dream come true for Chad E. Harris, co-founder of The Garden Gate along with his wife Jacqueline E. Harris.
This dream was built with an unbelievable amount of sweat, pain and a lot of tears. We often are asked about how we got started or how people love our "look" but it's really hard to explain, it's just us. I found the greatest person to share a dream with and she really has a gift in finding the perfect thing for any home. We have two wonderful children, Mr. Cooper - "The King of New Orleans" our dog and live in the best city, New Orleans.
Our success is in standing behind our running joke the day we started, "if we cannot sell it, it will just have to come home" and so far that has not happened. So, for a young boy who had a dream to a father watching his own children tell stories about what they want to do when they get older, I always have this to say, "I hope you are a fortunate as I have been and can live your dream."
What's been the biggest challenge for you and your retail store?:
Garden Gate has been a dream of mine since I was a young child and after meeting my wife (Jacqueline E. Harris, Co-founder) I realized we could run the perfect business together. The biggest challenge is that I have a very strong personality and that she is a female... I'm sure you can image the thrill or maybe the anxiety that we encounter daily. It's really not bad but it sure gets exciting some days.
To what do you attribute your success?:
When we started our business we were very fortune that we were not depending on it to support us as we had another business that "paid our bills". So we decided that it would have to be perfect. We would only buy what we loved, make the improvements that made us (and everyone that worked at GG) happy and we would treat our customers like we wanted to be treated. So, being able to go to a place everyday that was an absolute joy made and makes our atmosphere the greatest.
What advice would you give other retailers?:
Never, Never, Never stop trying. Even when the worst possible thing that you think cripples your ability to survive. Never stop trying. Take it from someone that thought it was all over one day but decided I would rather die trying than wished I had. With the never give up attitude, it has allowed us to pursue the best equipment. Initially, we purchased what we thought was to be the best and invest over 30K in a cash register system. The only problem was that it didn't work!
So one day I was strolling through an Office Depot and notice that QuickBooks had a software package called QuickBooks POS and you could even get it with a hardware bundle. I made the purchase and immediately went to the store and removed the overpriced pile of junk we called a POS system and within about 30 minutes had the QuickBooks POS system up and running.
So the new equipment made improvements to our business immediately and as a result we grew. Opened a second store, added another checkout, needed to exchange data so we upgraded to multi-store and again within 30 minutes had this configuration set.
Fast forward to August 26, 2005... we're looking at Hurricane Katrina coming right at us. I'm basically looking at trying to prepare five locations for a beating and all I can think to do is use my Treo as a hard drive and backup my QuickBooks to my cell phone and pray for the best.
So, we get whacked and I mean whacked. Every business we have is whipped out, so I get on the phone with the insurance company and the first thing they ask me is, "we are going to need some inventory records."
I first think to myself, what am I going to do and then I realized that I had all my data on my cell phone stored on a gig card. I quickly got a computer up and running under generator power and printed out my inventory. The insurance adjuster showed up the next day and wham... I handed him a detailed inventory sheet with cost and quantities that blew him away. I often tell this story on how I battled Katrina using my Quickbooks POS system. I have to say that I am grateful for being able to use this system--it saved my life!
