Sales are blooming again at Bachman's.
Along with the flowers. The family-owned florist and landscaping business has had to hoe a long row since sales bottomed during the Great Recession of 2007-09.
CEO Dale Bachman said a leaner Bachman's is "working our way back to pre-recession revenue" that peaked at $81 million in 2005.
"We had some losses during the recession, but we have been growing since we bottomed out in 2010, and we are profitable," Bachman said of the company, which is celebrating its 130th anniversary. "Is there a plan to do better? Yes. And it's just good to be growing again."
The recession, driven by the housing industry collapse, contracted new-household formation and related landscaping spending. It also left owners of depreciated homes shaken, unwilling to reinvest in home improvements, design and landscaping.
Bachman's shed employees through attrition and downsizing marginal businesses.
Some say that one-third or more of independent florists and garden centers closed or sold out nationally. The list includes 1910-vintage Linder's Garden Center of St. Paul, which closed in 2013.
Terri McEnaney, president of Bailey Nurseries of St. Paul, a supplier to Bachman's and others, said the recession was tough on a plant-and-flower industry that already is risky, thanks to the vagaries of weather and growing season issues, as well as being a labor- and capital-intensive industry.