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With five locations in the surrounding Kansas City, MO, Metroplex area and a wholesale and retail sod production operation, Grass Pad is well positioned to serve its market. The operation began in 1976 in an old dairy barn near the small town of Farley, MO. Sod, bulk materials and garden supply merchandise were both wholesaled and retailed from there.
Law to Lawns
Its roots run deep. Owner Mike McDermott grew up in the business, as the son of Joe and Ada McDermott, Owners of Loveland Lawns, a longtime fixture of the Omaha, NE, lawn and garden scene. Mike operated a lawn service throughout his high school years and during the summer while he was in college.
In a change of direction, Mike earned a law degree and joined a high-profile New York firm. But it was the Vietnam era and he interrupted his career for a three-year stint in the United States Marine Corps. After the Marines, he gave up Wall Street and moved back to Omaha and to the family business.
Thereafter, expansion plans called for a move into the Kansas City market, and Mike took the challenge.
“I was blessed by the experience with my dad,” Mike says. “Work wasn’t measured in hours but by whatever it took to get the job done. We started at the breakfast table talking sales. I got my advertising and marketing focus from my dad.”
Mike’s mother had human resources savvy. “She taught me to tell people what you can do for them and let them decide if they want to work for you, and to honor and respect the time they give you,” he says. “I hire good people who really like this business, then give them the tools they need to do the job and get out of the way.”
With Grass Pad’s five locations, Mike says he can’t be everywhere. “With the right people on board, over 100 during the height of the season, I don’t need to be,” he says.
Say “Uncle”
Bright, neatly arranged displays of plants greet customers in the nursery yard of each of the five Grass Pad locations.
Upon entering the stores, the layout invites exploration while directing the way to specific merchandise sections. Bins of bulk grass seed beckon, plainly labeled for type, variety and performance characteristics. Staff members, all outfitted in green shirts, smile and offer assistance.
Grass Pad has positioned itself as the friendly “uncle” who dispenses solid, down-to-earth advice and focuses on “idiot-proof” lawn and plant care programs.
“Uncle is a huge marketing tool,” says Mike. “The idea is to make the whole gardening and landscaping concept easy and fun. We give customers practical answers to solve problems. Part sales and part information - that’s the concept of our ads and of our retail service.”
Independent Focus
After Grass Pad opened its Olathe store in 1982, the business grew from there. Mass merchandisers and big box stores are within a quick drive of each Grass Pad location, and Mike says he’s aware of their impact on the industry and his business. His company maintains an overall balance of 50 percent wholesale and 50 percent retail to create the volume and revenues for a competitive edge in the marketplace.
“As an independent, I determine the types of merchandise to carry, the quality and the sizes,” Mike says. “I set the prices based on costs and market value. The No. 1 rule is to keep a handle on land costs. The No. 2 rule is to cover the overhead.”
But Mike knows there’s more to it than that. “In this business, you make money for four months, break even for four months, and lose money for four months,” he says. “We have to decide what we do best and then do it really well. We have to know our costs, and we have to know who we are.”
Grass Pad knows its customers can easily shop at other stores, so it presents itself as a store “equipped and ready to serve.”
“Everything we sell here, someone else is selling,” Mike says. “So we have to do it better.”
The company spends more on employee training than most retailers, Mike says. Every one of the stores’ employees- whether they’re in the store, out in the nursery yard or answering the phone - represents the company.
“The only thing that sets us apart is giving the customer better service,” Mike says.
“We start every weekend with a half-hour staff meeting to anticipate the customers’ problems and to be prepared in advance with the solutions,” he says. “Our customers want uncle’s idiot-proof advice. It’s our job to deliver it.”
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