HYPERLOCAL NEWS HUB BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM
Business Spotlight:
Midtown Nursery Opens for it's Fourth Spring
By Raph Small/MicroMemphis reporter
March 20, 2011
It's the first day of Spring, but unusually mild winter and early spring-like weather has already had pushed out early blooms across Memphis.
With the help of Mike Earnest it’s definitely going to be a “green” spring. Earnest is the owner of the Midtown Nursery on the corner of Central and Cooper. This season he's stocked up with tropical plants, petunias, and ferns.
“I think that the tropical plants are going to be the most popular this season” says Earnest.
The nursery is going into its fourth year at this location. Earnest says his nursery has done well in Midtown because, “people like to buy local, and support local businesses.”
Earnest used to have an office job in retail sales management, but says this business suits him better because he loves the outdoors and work with people in the community. Earnest also tries to support as many local growers as possible.
The staff at the nursery is quite small, in fact, one of his colleagues is his daughter Whitney. She has a full-time job as a teacher, but fills in occasionally when on break. Whitney says the nursery has been a positive thing for the family. She find one of the best things about working at Midtown Nursery is.... “Seeing my dad happy. He loves this place, and he enjoys the outdoors. He’s happy here.” Whitney who is a teacher is only filling in for spring break, but was just as cheerful and helpful as any other employee.
The nursery is also home to many local chefs, who flock there to purchase herbs.
“If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”
Raph Small/ MicroMemphis reporter
Raph Small covers Housing and Development for MicroMemphis.
You can send him story ideas here.
Follow him on Twitter ( @FEELMYRAPH )