Carving Multiple Career Paths

Anne-Marie Hardie

Erik Winer was born to be an entrepreneur, eagerly taking on new adventures and opportunities without hesitation. With a love for the outdoors, his career began at the young age of 12 when he took over his brother’s lawn and snowmobile business. Throughout high school and college, he expanded the company to a full lawn and landscape company, developing a loyal customer base.

Passionate about energy conservation, Erik pursued a diploma as an electrical engineer while continuing to operate his business. Although seemingly unrelated pursuits, Erik’s education would become instrumental in increasing efficiencies as the new owner of Mill Creek Gardens.

The idea to buy a nursery stemmed from one of the retailers whom Erik regularly bought product from for his landscape customers.

“The owner always made a joke that, ‘You look like you are interested in buying a greenhouse,’” says Erik, something that Erik originally dismissed as simply friendly banter. However, when the owner was considering retiring, he once again approached Erik.

“When I was a senior in college, the owner approached me once again, saying, ‘Now is a good time to buy because either I’m selling the business or closing up shop.’”

And so, with the support of his family, Erik purchased Mill Creek Garden Center while still maintaining a full-time career as an electrical engineer. Knowing very little about the greenhouse industry, Erik and his parents delved right in, learning along the way. Because he was new to the industry, Erik made the decision to retain the owner’s practices for at least the first year of business. However, as the years progressed, the Winers made adaptations, carving out a garden center that was truly their own.

Throughout it all, Erik has maintained a full-time career as an electrical engineer. When asked about how he balances it all, Erik admits that it’s busy, but he loves it. Today, both his engineering job and nursery are in Marshfield, Wisconsin, about a mile away from each other.

Currently in his fifth year of garden center ownership, Erik strives to continually increase efficiencies, from automation to limiting the use of chemicals.

“It’s been really exciting to be able to apply what I learned while in college to help innovate Mill Creek Gardens,” says Erik. One of the first to look at was watering—a job that originally required both Erik and his parents arriving at 4:30 a.m. each morning in order to keep up. To address this, Erik installed flood tables, reducing the watering labor from three individuals to one.

This year marked another major change in the business, with Erik’s wife Danielle taking the lead in marketing and customer service. An assistant volleyball coach at the University of Ohio, Danielle was investing a lot of her time commuting six hours back and forth from Wisconsin to Ohio and the couple was spending a lot of time apart. Seeing the potential in Mill Creek Gardens, the newlyweds made the business decision for Danielle to leave the university and focus on marketing.

“Having her here is awesome,” says Erik. “But having her here to grow the greenhouse sales and share my passion about the business has been amazing.”

Although Mill Creek Gardens was doing well, there were several untouched markets, mainly the up-and-coming Millennial shopper, a population of which both Danielle and Erik are a part of. Danielle is spearheading the advertising, shifting the focus from traditional billboards to social media. One of the areas that’s driven interest, shares Erik, are the innovative workshops that Danielle has introduced, bringing in customers during the garden center’s off-season.

“It’s the personal touch that makes the difference,” says Erik.

A true family affair, Erik’s father does the majority of the maintenance, including watering, while his mother is the inspiration behind the custom planters and helps guide customers with their own designs.

When asked about the future, Erik would like to start by extending the business beyond the spring season. “In our community, it is standard to open a greenhouse during the spring only,” says Erik. “We are trying to be the garden center that is here for more than a month and a half.”

Workshops are a great beginning, with the possibility of adding in more events that will extend the season into fall. Fostering strong connections with the community also remains a high priority for the family, from school tours to fundraising. To add some spontaneity to the school tours, Danielle and Erik included a treasure hunt, where the children searched the garden center to find gnomes and pig figurines.

“We want the kids to come out here because they are going to be the future gardeners,” says Erik. “We love hearing the children ask their parents to join them on the treasure hunt.”

Last fall, Danielle and Erik noticed that the planters scattered throughout town were looking tired. The family decided to collaborate with local businesses to rejuvenate the baskets, planting and designing the new planters for a small donation, which helped to cover the cost of the plants.

With a 5-acre lot, the space is limited, but they’ll continue to look at ways of expanding, from adding contract planting for businesses to eventually creating a Christmas scene—similar to what you might find in the streets of Germany.

Their hope is to evolve from a place to buy plants to a venue where people come for the experience, where the community comes together to shop, relax and simply take in the beauty of flowers. GT

Anne-Marie Hardie is a freelance writer/speaker from Barrie, Ontario, and part of the third generation of the family-owned garden center/wholesale business Bradford Greenhouses in Barrie/Bradford, Ontario.