SCD chronicles the year-long, behind-the-scenes efforts that lead to successful Christmases at a New Jersey garden center.

At Williams Nursery in Westfield, NJ, each year's Christmas season begins with an open house weekend in mid-November. However, the preparation for the holiday begins a full year earlier. Just about the time that Williams' customers begin their Christmas décor shopping, Dave Williams and Denise Jackson — siblings and co-owners of the fourthgeneration family business — begin thinking about the following year's Christmas.

Selling Christmas Decorations spoke with Williams about the company's annual Christmas preparations. What follows is a chronicle of the timetable that enables Williams to annually transform his six-and-a-half-acre garden center — including a 2,800-square-foot store and 2,700- square-foot greenhouse — into one of New Jersey's most successful Christmas retailers.

NOVEMBER
Christmas products line the shelves and Christmas music fills the air, but Williams and Jackson are beginning to think about themes, displays and products for next year's Christmas. "One of us always goes on the annual Garden Centers of America (GCA) Holiday Tour," says Williams. GCA, an organization of independent garden centers, also offers a Summer Tour each June; in 2008, the summer destination will be the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.

Williams was among the retailers who participated in last year's Holiday Tour to the Boston area. Among the local GCA nurseries on the itinerary were Kennedy's Country Gardens, Mahoney's Garden Centers and Pleasant View Gardens. "We get great ideas from the tours. We see a lot of new products and new ways to merchandise," says Williams, who has traveled to New York, Minnesota, Chicago and even to Switzerland with GCA groups. He cites Bachman's and Gertens in Minneapolis, MN, Rogers Gardens in Corona del Mar, CA, and Martin Viette Nurseries in Norwich, NY, as among the most impressive garden centers he has visited.

The tours also generally include visits to suppliers. The Boston trip, for example, included GKI/Bethlehem Lighting and Northeast Market Center, a regional showroom building. On a previous tour, Williams visited Kurt S. Adler, Inc. in New York City. "They showed us things they were working on for two years out," recalls Williams.

DECEMBER
Next Christmas is temporarily forgotten, says Williams, while the store "rides the wave" of the current Christmas season. Immediately after the holiday, Williams puts most of his remaining holiday products on sale. "I like to sell down to zero and start fresh each year," he explains, noting that the exception to this rule is Christopher Radko ornaments, which generate the highest sales volume per square foot of any line in the store. Williams notes that although he usually leaves the Radko pieces on display year round, last season they completely sold out before Christmas.

JANUARY
Still-unsold Christmas décor products are reduced to 70 percent off. Williams and Jackson divvy up the year's trade-show duties. "Usually, my sister does the New York International Gift Fair, and I go to Atlanta," says Williams. He also makes a trip to 7 West 34th Street in New York City, specifically to see the new line from Christopher Radko. "We do most of the Christmas buying we'll be doing right at the shows." Williams notes that Jackson, who studied art in college and has a great design sense, has usually planned out the store’s four themed trees by the end of the show season.

FEBRUARY THROUGH APRIL
Williams Nursery gears up for its busiest time of the year — the spring planting season, which peaks in late May. The company has about 15 year-round employees and adds additional part-timers each spring. At Christmastime, says Williams, the store does not usually hire additional staff but does offer additional hours to its regular employees.

MAY
The first new Christmas products of the year — Radko ornaments — go on display.

JUNE AND JULY
Business slows down enough for Williams, Jackson and her husband, Greg — who handles sales, production, staffing and maintenance for the company — to take vacations. The siblings' parents, Ed and Joan Williams — now semi-retired from the business — are available to fill in at this time as well as during the busy spring and fall seasons. At the end of July, staffers begin stocking shelves for Halloween — an increasingly profitable decorating season.

AUGUST
"We usually get a ship date of around August 1 for our Christmas products. This is an off-time for garden centers, and we can begin labeling, pricing and organizing," says Williams.

SEPTEMBER
The Halloween season is in full swing. Outdoors, there are "tons and tons" of pumpkins; in the store, it's "whatever's trendy," says Williams. He believes that Americans are significantly increasing their Halloween spending. He attributes the growing popularity of Halloween to the fact that it's a less stress-producing holiday than Christmas, which comes with more shopping and social obligations. Williams notes that his customers are less rushed at Halloween and thus seem to have time to enjoy its festivities.

OCTOBER
Williams places his final Christmas orders — for live trees, garland, wreaths and other cut greens. Hay rides, pony rides and Halloween-costume contests draw families to the nursery; free photos taken at these events are posted on the company's website to bring traffic to the site, www.williams-nursery.com, which generated $60,000 in sales last year.

NOVEMBER
On November 1, Halloween products come off the shelves and are replaced by Christmas décor and holiday-oriented gifts. Williams notes that the process is eased by the fact that the displays have already been planned out by Jackson. Her design skills, says Williams, also enable the company to make maximum use of its limited indoor store space. "Denise gets an enormous amount of product into the store, and it looks great," he enthuses. Among the company's major Christmas suppliers are Yankee Candle Co., Midwest, TAG, Design Ideas and TransPac Imports.

The annual Gift Shop Open House, which takes place around November 15, marks the official launch of the Christmas season at Williams Nursery. There are also visits from ornament designers; for example, David Strand paid a call in late 2007.

In previous years, there have also been opportunities for photos with a live reindeer (actually an elk rented out to Williams Nursery for part of the season), but a new state regulation regarding hoof-and-mouth disease eliminated this popular event from Williams Nursery's 2007 schedule.

A Fourth Generation Businesss
Williams Nursery was founded in 1920 by William "Edward" Williams and his son, Roy — Dave Williams' and Denise Jackson's grandfather. After the lean years of the Depression, the garden center moved to its current location, and Roy began traveling throughout the country looking for new varieties of plants. His son, Ed — the current owners' father — joined the business; and, in the 1950s, the company — then called Williams Floral Farm — became known for its camellias, gladioli and dahlias.

In the 1960s, the store was renamed Williams Nursery. Roy and Ed found new suppliers in California and Oregon, and Williams Nursery became one of the first local nurseries to carry plants from the West Coast. "Everybody does this now," notes Dave Williams, "but my dad was a pioneer."

Williams, who has worked in the store "since I was about four," says the major innovation he has brought to the business has been the addition of more gift-type products to the company's indoor store. He credits Jackson with launching and expanding the company's Christmas-décor business. //