5 minute read
g At Home / By Bob Waite
Lifestyle Garden Store
Tom Hebel, owner of Bucks Country Gardens, sees his business as something much more than a garden store and design build landscape company
When the owner of Bucks Country Gardens, Thomas Hebel, was a sophomore in high school he visited nearby Penn State University on a career day. During the visit the students could pick whatever major they thought they may like and talk to the professors about it. Tom says, “I thought I wanted to be an architectural engineer because I liked that term. Now that sounded interesting to me.” But on his way to the architectural engineering lab, he providentially walked through a landscape architecture studio. “I knew right then and there what I wanted to do when I saw what those people did, the drawings they created and the fact that they were working with plant material and the environment.” Tom enrolled at Penn State as a landscape architecture major and graduated in 1977.
After graduating from Penn State, Tom did not immediately get into his chosen profession. Instead, he worked in Pittsburgh in industrial construction for three years. After that a friend of his from college invited him to work at Green Thumb Nurseries in Bucks County. Tom stayed there for a year, and then he found a job as manager of the landscape design/build department in
Opposite (left to right) the Hebels: Gregory, Thomas, Barbara and Ryan. Top left, an exterior view of Bucks Country Gardens. Top right, inside the greenhouse. Center left & right, two landscaping projects. Bottom left, inside view of the store. Bottom right, landscaping of a home entrance.
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Doylestown at Royer Nurseries, which was on West State Street. In 1984 the business moved two miles north on Route 611 to the 35-acre Porter Farm, which is the present location of Bucks Country Gardens. In October 1986 the company was incorporated into an equal partnership between C.R. Royer and Thomas L. Hebel. In 1993 Tom purchased Mr. Royer’s shares, making Tom Hebel the sole owner of the company. The following October he changed the name to Bucks Country Gardens, Ltd.
Bucks Country Gardens is what the industry calls a lifestyle garden center, which Tom says means, “We don’t just sell plants.” About 75 percent of the business is retail and 25 percent is landscape contracting. Explaining those statistics, he says, “We sell pottery, furniture, and home accessories and candles, and we actually have a pretty extensive gift department, a very extensive Christmas department.” Bucks Country Gardens also sells casual furniture, and of course, has the traditional garden store departments which would be greenhouse, nursery and hard goods.
The landscape side of the business is a design-build business. Tom says, “We do most of our own design work with customers who have been our clients for a long time, and we have a lot of referrals and repeat business. Most of it is midrange residential. Most of that business is in Central Bucks County. We go as far south as Newtown, as far north as Easton, as far east as Princeton and as far west as the Main Line, but the majority of our business is in Doylestown, Buckingham, Solebury and Plumstead Township.”
The customers who come regularly to the store, though, come from much further points—Central Jersey, the Jersey Shore, Delaware, Philadelphia and surrounding counties. Not only is the store well-recognized by people throughout and beyond the region, but it also well-known in the industry. Bucks Country Gardens is active in national and regional associations and is considered a model of what a lifestyle gar-
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ing. Tom reflects on what a person, who has never been to Bucks Country Gardens may encounter on their first visit. He says, “The thing that people will identify with rather quickly is that we have a friendly and knowledgeable staff. We have a greeter, and we have our entire team identified on a wall. As you walk in the door, you can look at the entire team, and know who’s doing what if you see them around—we’re all identified. We all have our name on our shirts.”
As for presentation, Tom says, “We try to be engaged and inspiring with our presentation. We try to make it fresh. We change our displays constantly. I’m a bit of a stickler for tidiness and cleanliness. You don’t see trash around garden center. We’re really diligent about making the place what we call ‘show ready.’”
Tom’s wife Barbara does not work for Bucks Country Gardens. Tom says, “Barbara is now a senior vice president at Doylestown health and always had her own career. She raised the kids and had a career and did all the home things and difficult stuff, which gave me the flexibility to work long hours and to devote myself to building this business. And without that support, I would never have been able to do it.”
Although Tom lives in Bedminster, he is very committed to Doylestown and the Central Bucks area where he does business. “I think supporting the community is critical for everyone and particularly businesspeople. So, we’re strongly involved in supporting the Heritage Conservancy, the YMCA, The Bucks County Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce and Doylestown Health and practically every service organization and nonprofit in town. Doylestown is where my heart is.”
Bucks Country Gardens is located at 1057 North Easton Road, Doylestown, PA; 215-766-7800. For more information visit www.buckscountrygardens.com.
