Flamingo Road Nursery in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., opened only 10 years ago, but it’s already renowned in the industry for its smart business practices.
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Flamingo Road Street Front
Flamingo Road Nursery is on a busy street and needs to attract as many eyes as it can while conveying the business' personality. Owner Jim Dezell manages just that with the palm trees, colorful and vertical store sign and the hot pick jumbo chair.
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A New, Crowd-Sourced Flamingo Road Logo
Dezell tapped into crowd sourcing when he needed his store logo updated. He used 99Designs.com to seek submissions, with $750 promised to the winning design. A designer in Indonesia created this winning logo. "We had over 100 submissions and worked with the top 5 until we picked the winner. Then he tweaked the logo and developed business cards, letterhead and product signage templates," Dezell says.
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Hanging Orchids Flank The Entrance
While there is a lot of competition for traditional orchids, hanging orchids haven't made their way to mass merchants and chains. Dezell displays these plants along his entry walkway and in front of a pond and waterfall feature.
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Huts At Flamingo Road
These colorful huts ring a pond in the middle of the store. Originally, Dezell envisioned these all being mini departments, but found they became islands of low traffic instead. He has since switched his strategy. One hut (shown here on the right), is an info center stocked with frequently recommended fertilizers, controls and other solutions. Employees can get these products in customers hands without sending them to another part of the store to obtain them.
A second concept Dezell is using is leasing the huts to consignment vendors who commit to spending time selling their products on site. He has leased huts to bonsai and orchid vendors so far.
"They bring in their own merchandise at cost and we split the gross profit so our margin is 25 to 33 percent, which is fine because of the expertise they provide during weekend demonstrations while manning their areas. Sales are rung through our POS," Dezell says.
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Products Stashed At Secondary Checkout
Flamingo Road has a highly popular farmers' market, which bring high volume traffic through a secondary checkout. This small room is directly behind the checkout, allowing cashiers to grab common upsale items for customers who need them without holding up the line.
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Carts Storage At Flamingo Road
Dezell has a clever way to make sure customers have carts when they need them. Throughout the store, these carts are tucked against plant benches.
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Vegetable Plants Displayed Near The Farmers' Market Entrance
Customers for the farmers' market go through a small portion of the plant yard to reach the market entrance. Dezell is experimenting with trying to find the right mix of products to sell in this walk through area. he currently stocks his vegetable plants here.
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Combo Garden Station Near The Farmers Market
Directly across from the farmers' market entrance, Dezell has a secondary area he uses to grab the attention of produce shoppers. In this area, he displays plants with strong impulse appeal, like this combo garden station. These are satellite displays – the primary departments are located elsewhere.
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Farmers Market Promos in the plant yard at Flamingo Road
The farmers' market primarily sells produce, but it does have a few offerings that make sense as a tie in.
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Girl Enjoying A Slushy At Flamingo Road
One way Flamingo Road fosters a family atmosphere is that it allows treats to be sampled throughout the store and it has a several spots with seating so customers can rest.
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Facebook Promo At Flamingo Road
Real-world promos are an effective way to build traffic for the business' online sites.
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Children's Paint-A-Pot Station at Flamingo Road
A good size area is set up for children's crafts, including a paint-a-pot station.
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BBQ Restuarant On Flamingo Road's Property
Dezell leases out a building on his property that's directly across the drive from his store to a barbecue vendor.
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Flamingo Road Street Front
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A New, Crowd-Sourced Flamingo Road Logo
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Hanging Orchids Flank The Entrance
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Huts At Flamingo Road
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Products Stashed At Secondary Checkout
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Carts Storage At Flamingo Road
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Vegetable Plants Displayed Near The Farmers' Market Entrance
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Combo Garden Station Near The Farmers Market
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Farmers Market Promos in the plant yard at Flamingo Road
In early February 2015, Flamingo Road’s owner Jim Dezell gave me a tour of the bustling store. He and manager Erik Friedli spoke several times about ideas they wanted to try, others they had tested and abandoned and why they are using the ones that were on display at that time. That quest for excellence is the reason the store had a full, bustling parking lot.
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Take the chance to learn from their experience. From innovative ways to get a polished new logo to boosting sales at checkout, here are 12 ideas you may want to use in your own store.
March 3, 2015 
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