| Panel Discussion: Help Your Customers Become More Successful
Date: August 8, 2023 .... Time: 1:00 - 1:45 p.m. Our industry welcomed roughly 18.3 million new gardeners as a result of the Covid pandemic, according to estimates. And of course, we want to keep them. So let's pat ourselves on the back for doing a good job teaching "Gardening 101" to our customers over the past few years. But is it time to up our game to "Gardening 102?" What is your in-store experience? How are your customers behaving in this uncertain economic climate? Are they spending like it's 2020 or cautiously doing so? How are you getting customers in your store when it's oh. so. tempting. to buy online? Once they're in your brick-and-mortar, what is your garden center doing to help budding gardeners cultivate their green thumbs so they're successful in their gardens and come back to your store for more? We'll hear from representatives of very different independent garden centers. We'll learn how they're doing and what they're doing to help their customers become more successful gardeners inside and outside. If you want your garden center to succeed in the short term for the long term, this is a not-to-be-missed lively discussion where attendees participate as panelists in the conversation.
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Jennifer Brennan -- Horticulture Information Specialist @ Chalet Home & Garden .
Jennifer Brennan is currently a Horticulture Information Specialist at Chalet Home & Garden in Wilmette, Illinois. She spent 32 years as a staff horticulturist at Chalet Nursery and was responsible for sales in all areas – nursery, stock, perennials, annuals and related gardening products. She has spent 7 years as a continuing education instructor at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Teaching courses in groundcovers, vines, perennials, container gardening, herbs, bulbs and gardening with children, and 4 years as a staff horticulturist in the Plant Information Office at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
She's a member of The Perennial Plant Association; member of the Board of The Perennial Plant Association; and President of the Board of the Perennial Plant Association.
She earned a B.S. Degree in Ornamental Horticulture with a minor in Botany from the Univ. of Illinois where she learned woody plant materials from Dr. Michael Dirr.
She has been interviewed by many prestigious television news outlets and is currently a Horticulture correspondent for the local ABC-TV affiliate, WLS - Channel 7 Morning News and working monthly with Tracy Butler, Morning News weather anchor, live on the WLS-TV Streaming Channel from 7AM to 8AM.
Chalet Home & Garden -- Serving The North Shore Since 1917
Today, Chalet is the North Shore’s leading one stop destination for inspired landscape design, classically fresh products, curated home decor and customer service that creates lifelong connections. Season after season, from generation to generation, Chalet works with people to discover fresh, imaginative ways to design their outdoor space, create inviting, inspired homes; and grow a personal connection between design and nature.
It all started in 1917
Chalet is deep-rooted in history as a third-generation, family-owned, local business serving the North Shore for over 100 years. From our humble beginnings as a self-started yard care business by L.J. Thalmann, we have grown to incorporate multiple divisions, increasing the Chalet offerings. The expansion of our Landscape Division and the addition of the Chalet Farm are just a few of the transformations that have helped shape Chalet.
