Research has shown that there is a strong group of 100 million consumers who spend $19 billion … [+]
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The age of majority in millennials has been determined by political decency, economic stagnation, and massive amounts of debt brought on by the exorbitant costs of higher education. My oldest daughter, who is thirty years old, fits that bill. And like many of her other colleagues looking to passionate projects to balance out their stressful lives, she chose gardening. From winter seedlings to raised planting beds, she’s turned a Minneapolis city backyard into a thriving botanical garden, and upped the value of an entire alphabet of greens.
So, it wasn’t a complete surprise to read an excerpt from a National Horticultural Association (NGA) survey indicating that a quarter of all gardening expenditures from the $52 billion horticultural industry came from millennials, despite having less wealth than older generations. A 2020 study published in the Journal of Landscape and Urban Planning found that “gardening supports high emotional well-being, including feelings of happiness and purposefulness.” And a 2021 survey found that gardening multiple times per week was associated with “higher levels of perceived well-being, less stress, and more physical activity.” Incidentally, she supplied me with copious amounts of basil for enough pesto to get us through the long Minnesota winters.
Capital Follows Enthusiasts
A recent article in Fast Company magazine showed just how fertile this category is, even among the most savvy venture capitalists in our midst. The Los Angeles-based Chernin Group (TCG), was founded by former News Corp President and COO Peter Chernin and Goldman Sachs
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TCG has raised a new $1.2 billion fund to continue to find and bring back the unexplored corners of Web 2.0 as it simultaneously seeks to adapt these same principles and strategies to bring Web3 into the mainstream. And one of the first categories on their site is the highly segmented gardening industry, which they think can start building great commercial content. Their research showed that there is a strong group of one hundred million consumers who spend $19 billion annually on gardening as a hobby. “It’s a pocket of enthusiasts hiding in plain sight, growing kale,” says Luke Beatty, a TCG partner.
Early discussions, as reported by The Fast Company, indicate that TCG plans to build the horticultural company into a “house of brands” allowing other content creators access to the founder’s infrastructure. They also expect to expand into home and flower farming, as well as merchandise (gardening tools, clothing), television, and physical retail.
Certainly not the first
There were other retail entrepreneurs who considered similar endeavors. Billionaire Urban Outfitters founder Richard Hayne had a similar vision in 2008 with the launch of Terrain. It has been described as “a garden, home and outdoor lifestyle brand deeply rooted in nature and plant life.” At the time, my design firm had already built a successful retail prototype in this category, and used it as a “calling card” to arrange a meeting with Mr. Hayne, offering to conduct a “SWAT audit” of the concept and sharing my thoughts with him and his staff. The “free offer” was accepted, which led to an unforgettable meeting with Richard Heine.
The flagship store was built in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, and at that time they were considering a nationwide rollout of the prototype. The super concept was breathtaking, with home and garden merging to create an immersive nature experience featuring diverse native plants, planters, furniture, décor, and all-weather gifts. It differed from a regular garden center in that the interior and exterior of the space was a series of rooms or scenarios that differentiated and cross-sold products.
It was a lot like whether RH (Restore Devices) would create a concept for horticulture, today. The educational classes, the beautiful restaurant and the well-designed private garden accessories were all extensions of the brand. The Terrain brand still exists today, both online, and offline as stand-alone stores and as part of the Urban Outfitters Anthropologie chain.
Like the endeavors of the Chernin and Terrain group, I expect many of these concepts to take hold in the future. Food scarcity, sensitivities to common agricultural practices, and a simple desire to get our hands into the soil will have many of us digging it up.
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