25 years ago, Boxwoods Gardens was founded by a pair of business partners: a landscape architect and a business graduate, who brought their passion for the outdoors and business together to address a specific client need in the Atlanta market. The need? A store with moderately priced items that offered gardening, gifts and antiques to bring the outdoors in and the indoors out. “We consider ourselves a destination shop for the southeast that provides a one stop shop for home design and décor, like an old-time southern department store,” Dan Belman, Partner, shared. Dan and his partner, Randy Korando, are no strangers to market adaptation and strive to keep their customers the #1 priority. And because of this, Booxwoods’ customers have driven the business to its success today.
“I don’t think you can lead customers down the path; I believe they lead you.”
– Dan Belman when sharing Boxwoods Gardens success in retail over the past 25 years.
You can be assured that when you visit Boxwoods Gardens, you are receiving the ultimate ‘bang for the buck’. When the shop opened in 1995, Boxwood Gardens’ business consisted of 3 main pillars – Garden, Gifts and Antiques (and unique finds). While these pillars still exist, they have ventured into new business opportunities along the way. Within their garden division, they are most known for their orchids. They buy their orchids from a local Georgia grower, and are the only local shop to do so, Dan shared. Additionally, one of the shop’s differentiating factors is simple: Compositions. Compositions are planters set with multiple live plants that last a long time, are easy to maintain and possess high quality botanicals. And did you know, that Boxwoods Gardens is one of the only places in Georgia that sells hydrangea year-round?
Boxwoods Gardens expanded their business to include a separate Boxwoods Homes shop just nextdoor to Boxwoods Gardens with popular women’s fashion and accessories and highly-desired home entertaining items.
A few years ago, Boxwoods Gardens was contacted by The St. Regis Atlanta for an external and internal landscaping and garden makeover. You will find a variety of their products throughout the hotel – inside and out. Next time you’re in the Buckhead area, be sure to check out the stunning botanicals that are featured in The Garden Room restaurant.
(Photo credit: The St. Regis Atlanta)
The main source of business they serve is individual consumers (B2C). And they have many long-time loyal customers who consistently purchase compositions for 20+ years. Boxwoods Gardens also has many close relationships with local interior designers who use their shops to source items for their clients. But most of all, Boxwoods Gardens prides its relationships with its employees. To Dan and Randy, they are family. Many employees have been part of the Boxwoods family for over 20 years!
Since we’ve been working with FoneLogix, they have been able to provide hybrid, cost-effective solutions for our two shops. With the VOIP cloud and wireless products, we can now place phones in our outdoor garden areas and in each area of our business to keep our business running efficiently. And in times of emergencies, we are able to take our phones home and continue to operate smoothly. What Boxwoods Gardens appreciates most about FoneLogix is their client support. If there is ever an issue, we are able to call them, speak to someone immediately and have a resolution right away.
Since the pandemic, we closed our stores from the beginning of April and reopened May 4. During that time, they continued to care for their 30 employees and were able to reopen without hiccup. If you visit their stores today, you will find strong social distancing measures taken throughout the stores and a request for all staff and customers to wear facial coverings. Remember, adaptation is not new to Boxwoods Gardens. The partners are optimistic about the future and will continue to place their customer needs first. This may mean being more creative in the digital space with online orders, sales and possibly deliveries. Dan and his partner stand committed in their business and know that anything is possible when you love what you do.
