Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea.
Andrea, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We are a second generation brother and sister team. Our mom and dad established the business in 1984. Joel and I both grew up in the business being only 2 and 3 when we moved from Bend to Corvallis. We both worked throughout the business from a very young age. Andrea worked in the garden center and helped with floral design and brought her passion for tropical plants. Joel found his passion in the landscape with ponds and started working on the pond and landscape crews. After hanging jankey Christmas lights for many years he brought on Brite Ideas holiday lighting that is now lighting Benton and surrounding counties each holiday season. Brite Ideas is a full install, maintenance, take down, and storage. Our garden center also includes a full honey bee department that sets us aside from other garden centers. From bee package pickup, hives, suits, and hive accessories we have everything a beekeeper could ask for. Our growing Native plants selection brings many unique finds and many benefits to the pollinators. We offer many classes throughout the season and many fun make and take workshops that are fun todo with a friend or meet other fellow plant enthusiast. We are supported by an amazing team of staff who make the business what it is today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are always struggles but when you are supported by a strong team that loves what they do it makes life easier. Covid was our last big hurdle we went through. Nothing really compares to that. We never closed as we had a group of staff that didn’t want to sit through it. The gardening boom was very real at that time, we had never had traffic flow like that and everyone was getting into gardening. We weren’t able to do classes at the time as easily so we started offering online classes. We were fortunate to have an good website that allowed for online shopping and it allowed us to help so many more plant people. With a good team you can get through anything.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Shonnard’s Nursery, Florist, and Landscape?
Our family has always encouraged education and learning. For our staff if they want to take a class or learn something to grow further in their career with us we will support their continued education the best we can. For our customers we have always taught classes to make successful gardeners. For the community we want to share as many learning opportunities that we can with local organizations by bringing them into teach classes or setup a table to educate those who come through the garden center that day.
We are known for our great customer service that shines through each interaction. Our quality plants bring life to your landscape that bring joy for seasons to come. The classes and services we offer seasonally give confidence and support to make you a successful gardener. We want everyone to feel welcome and leave with a feeling of happiness.
Signup for our email list through our website. Our website it a wealth of knowledge from a resource center with all our handouts, a plant finder tool you can put in characteristics of plants you want and it shows you options, our blogs, listing of upcoming classes, and so much more. If your on social find us! We are on Instagram and Facebook, our team is always up to something and gonna make you smile.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
We have been apart of many great organizations through out our years of business. We have found partnering with groups within our field has been a huge opportunity to meet others who are doing the same thing you are. We have been apart of a local groups like the OAN Oregon Association of Nurseries and NNBA Northwest Nursery Buyers Association and the GCG Garden Center Group for a more national connection. Through these groups we never feel alone in what we are doing. There is always someone to bounce a question off of. The learning opportunities that they offer are helpful in our future growth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shonnards.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shonnardsnursery/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Shonnards/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9qbDVPNB12i2yzh7L5h9ng
