Full Features in Smithville has a lot going on right now with ongoing construction both inside and outside, but the owners of this nursery and landscape business are inching toward offering the community a sleek, modern and easy shopping experience.
Kristopher Fuller started the landscaping business in 2003 and opened the garden center in 2005 with the help of his parents, Daniel and Shirley Fuller. They leased the building at 13518 N. Highway 169 and now the building’s owners have decided to make some changes with the structures on the land and sold a portion to the Fullers, which they are totally revamping.
“Smithfield residents are very familiar with our business being here as it was and now it's going to change and of course everyone is going to be wondering what's going on,” Kristopher said. “So the big thing for us is that we are now going to own a very specific piece of this property and revamp the entire garden center. It has given us the opportunity to modernize and make it look more comfortable and nicer. I’m putting in a nice wood frame awning and French front doors and the whole building will be painted.”
The business is also leveling the outdoor area to simplify the flow and make it easier for customers to pull carts of plants to the retail area for checkout.
Mitchell’s Greenhouses and Nursery occupied the building for 18 years prior to the Fullers. Kristopher had worked for Mitchell’s starting out as a laborer on the landscape crew. By the time Mitchell’s passed the business on to the Fullers Kristopher was the lead designer.
“When they shut down the landscape side I started Full Features Landscape out of my house with my mom and dad's help, Kristopher said. “And then about a year-and-a-half later the Mitchell’s Greenhouses and Nursery owner called me and decided they were getting rid of the garden center as well and wanted to see if we wanted to take it on. I definitely wasn't financially prepared to but my mom and dad were kind of at a point in their life to make some changes so they agreed to go in with me and financially help make it possible, so we took over the garden center as well. We were all brand new to this and we decided to learn as we go.”
When Kristopher’s wife Jackie became part of the family she began working at the business also. “She got trapped by dating the wrong guy,” Kristopher said. “She knew she was here a lot more than she planned to be so we told her she should be the retail manager.”
Although there are headaches with owning any business, Jackie said she loves her job and although she goes home tired it’s for a good reason.
Daniel and Shirley plan to retire soon and look forward to travel. For Daniel, total retirement would be hard. “I would miss it,” Daniel said. “I keep saying I'm going to retire but not completely, I want to be able to go when I want to go but I will also want to be here a lot.”
Vacations and travelling are difficult in the nursery/landscaping business. Spring, summer and fall are the busiest months and planning for the those seasons begins during the winter months.
“The first few winters were tough,” Shirley said. “You know you have to plan for the winters, it's a slow time and the first few years the cash flow wasn't there and we didn't have the experience behind us so the banks didn't want to lend us any money. It was difficult the first few years learning the process and learning the cycles, and learning how to get through the cycles, but once you finally get through a couple of them you know what you have to do.”
The business is able to build up a list each year of landscaping jobs for winter months when the weather allows, which helps with cash flow. Sometimes they give discounts at the end of fall for winter projects. Customers also frequent the business for gravel, sand and propane to refill tanks in the winter.
“It’s not a lot but we can earn some income by doing wall work and patios in winter,” Shirley said. “Then we can go back and put plants in later. We can accommodate people and still get a lot of work done and keep our guys working in the winter. (During peak season Full Features has about 27 employees). You have to be flexible and just plan to make adjustments as you go and pick up clients that are flexible enough to allow it. And on the retail side we are still here in the winter. In the winter we are planning for spring, there's a lot that goes into it and the plants don't just show up.”
Full Features sells plants, trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, mulch and they also sell herbicides, some indoor chemicals and insecticides.
On the landscape side Kristopher said customers typically want plants that are low maintenance.
“That's why they're having it done for them in the first place,” Kristopher said. “So we use a lot of what we call our bread-and-butter plants such as boxwoods and daylilies, maple trees and shrub roses. We as a garden center pride ourselves in having a lot of other plants that are beyond those low-maintenance plants like the ones that they can't necessarily get at Lowe's and Home Depot.”
Jackie said it’s important for them to carry plants that customers can have as their focal point in their gardens. “We have some unique plants that you don't find in a lot of different places,” Jackie said. “We also pride ourselves in being knowledgeable about where to put those plants because if you've ever been to a box store they aren't always truthful about where to plant stuff. We try to guide people and give them the right direction as to where to properly place plants even though that might not be where they intended to, but we want to make sure that the plants do well in that location and not sell it to them just because they think they like it.”
Full Features' staff also advise customers who see unusual plants on the internet and want to purchase them for their garden that sometimes it’s a bad idea.
“They’ll say, ‘hey do you guys have this’ and we’ll have to tell them, ‘well it doesn't exist outside of Hawaii so it won't do well in Missouri,” Jackie said. “We tell them we can probably get it for them but that they’re not going to be happy with it. It might live through the summer but then it’s gone.”
Feeding and watering advice is also given at Full Features. Shirley said this is like children in that you have to take good care of them. “It's a live thing so you can't just expect them to go out there and sit in 105 degrees with no water and expect them to make it. We have pamphlets and different things we give people on how to make it work,” Shirley said. “Another thing that differentiates us from the bigger box stores is that we carry plants in bigger sizes too. We carry plants in larger container sizes like big burlapped trees. We fertilize everything every week. It makes them strong and healthy."
Kristopher's favorite part of the landscaping and planning is the design. He studied dance in college and describes himself as the Lego kid.
“I like the creativity of building walls and using plants and colors,” Kristopher said. “This is a job where I get to be creative but I don't get stuck doing one thing all the time, so today I might get to do a couple of designs and be really creative, then tomorrow I'm driving around in my truck visiting customers and the next day I'm helping in retail, so there's a lot of change and I like that aspect of it.”
Daniel hopes the younger generation will get into gardening. He said that mainly Baby Boomers and slightly younger people are interested in the hobby.
“We see more younger people on the retail side than those who need landscaping,” Jackie said. “But people are more health-conscious and gardening has picked up over the last few years. They care more about what they're putting into their bodies and what chemicals are in processed foods. I think people are trying to get back into that mindset that they want to grow it themselves and know what is being put into their plants. It's exciting for kids to be able to see that process too.”
Full Features also works with local children in day-care facilities and schools with a program called Plant a Pot where kids are given small pots and plants which they plant and take home to care for.
As Smithville continues to grow Kristopher said the business intends to keep pace.
“We're growing and changing with Smithville in all kinds of ways right now, Kristopher said. We’re even working on a new logo that says Growing and Changing with the Community.”