Member Profile:
Peter Mahoney, Co-Owner & Partner
Mahoney’s, 7 retail locations in Massachusetts
Putting ‘Quality First’ Has Been A Profitable
Philosophy For 60-Year-Old Home & Garden
Retailer
Since Mahoney’s Garden Center was founded in 1959 as a
vegetable farm stand, delivering quality has always been its
No. 1 focus, according to Peter Mahoney, Co-Owner and
Partner of his family’s business. “To this day, we really believe
in giving the customer good value for our products,” he says.
“It will always be quality first.”
Evolving from the farm stand that Paul Mahoney established
in Winchester, MA, six decades ago, Mahoney’s has grown to
include seven retail stores (Brighton, Chelmsford, Concord,
East Falmouth, Osterville, Tewksbury and Winchester), one
growing range with 5 acres under glass, a second production
facility that’s outdoors and a 200-acre Christmas tree farm in
Nova Scotia.
“We’re big on offering variety – that’s where we stand out,”
Peter says. “Even our smaller stores, you’re going to find a lot
more variety than you would see in a typical box store.”
He notes that, due to the size of their operation, they’re able
to take advantage of some great buys with growers. They
maintain a great relationship with their vendors to be able to
source some spectacular plants, which translates to good
results at the cash registers.
Mahoney’s is a big driver of color – whether it’s hydrangeas,
annuals or perennials – the retail stores are a destination for
color plants. They receive deliveries of fresh product daily,
especially during April, May and June, and even, during the
summer months. The fresh product is positioned front and
center in the stores through creative displays, drawing in
crowds to see what’s new and ringing up sales of the hottest
new items.
“We have a high percentage of plant sales compared to the
typical garden center,” Peter says.
The offerings across all retail locations are pretty consistent,
with staples like annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs, but
then they differ on products based on the size of the store
and demographic of the area. For instance, the smaller store
in Brighton has more selection of products geared toward
small-space gardeners in condos and apartments, who may
have only a patio or balcony to display plants.
In an effort to inspire and attract customers to the store,
Mahoney’s produces in-store videos every week for social
media, reassuring customers that the store is live and fresh
with new product and valuable knowledge. This also helps
attract younger consumers to the stores and spread the love
of gardening to a whole new set of shoppers.
Mahoney’s is cashing in on the houseplant boom, which is
especially popular among Millennial and Gen Z shoppers.
“We keep those new, exciting indoor plants rolling in all year
long,” Peter says.
In 2017, they closed the Wayland retail location and doubled
the size of the Concord store, which was only 7 miles from
the store that closed. The Concord’s offerings doubled,
including the greenhouses and shade areas, and, according
to Peter, it’s paying off.
Now, he has his eyes set on expanding one of the city
locations in the near future.
In an effort to create merchandise vignettes that fill
customers with inspiration and resemble their own spaces at
home, Mahoney’s has started incorporating more garden
decor into displays of plants. Since they’ve seen good results
with that, they’ll continue to explore cross-merchandising.
When the tables are turned and it’s Peter and his staff who
need fresh inspiration, they turn to industry associations and
events. As a former board member of Garden Centers of
America, Peter sees the value in networking with other
garden center leaders.
“We see tremendous value in visiting other stores,” he says.
“It doesn’t matter the size or scope, there’s always something
to offer that you can pick up on by visiting – whether it’s on
the tours, through peer groups or at trade shows.”
He continues, “We pretty much cover all the trade shows.
We’ve been perennial attenders of the IGC Show, and we’ve
always gone on the GCA Tours. No matter the group, the
sharing of ideas is of tremendous value.”
“My dad grew up in the era of pioneering the industry, and
he was always on good rapport with his competitors,
because they were building the industry from the ground
up. They had no other reference but to share ideas, and even
though they were competitors, they were always very
friendly.”
Even to this day, Peter follows this philosophy and keeps in
contact with competitors. “We know our customers are
going to shop different garden centers, and we’re never
going to be their only shop,” he says. “We want, as an
industry, to continue this dialogue with competitors and see
what they’re seeing.”
GCA MEMBER PROFILE