Garden Centers of America

Last updated

Garden Centers of America (GCA) was incorporated in March 1973 as a nonprofit organization of independent garden centers across North America for the purpose of improving conditions in the retail garden center industry.

Contents

GCA provides a medium through which independent garden centers may consider their mutual problems and interests, exchange ideas and assist each other in bringing the independent garden center industry to a higher level of efficiency.

GCA Summer Tour-goers bring back retailing inspirations from touring indie garden centers in San Francisco, CA. GCA Tour San Francisco june 2014.jpg
GCA Summer Tour-goers bring back retailing inspirations from touring indie garden centers in San Francisco, CA.

Regular members are limited to independent retail firms to whose primary purpose is to sell live plants to the public. Active members must have a definite location of business with appropriate facilities to properly care for and display plants.

GCA puts on a summer tour of garden centers in different regions of the United States each year in June. Recent history has taken the tour to Nashville, TN; Seattle, WA; Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA; Portland, OR; Milwaukee, WI; San Francisco, CA; central Ohio and Detroit, MI.

GCA's commitment is to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of the locally owned independent garden center. GCA is the primary forum for information, education and training that promotes the exchange of ideas between member firms.

In October 2016, GCA had 144 active member firms and 22 associate members with a sincere interest in improving the business of retailing in garden centers.[ citation needed ]

Awards

Every year, GCA hosts the Best Garden Center Bathroom Awards recognizing independent garden centers with the best store restroom designs. A panel judges the entries based on the bathroom's creativity and comfort to the customer's overall shopping experience. The best entries are selected and given one of these honors: Gold Award, Silver Award and Merit Award. The winners are unveiled at the Independent Garden Center Show (IGC Show) in Chicago, Illinois, every year.

GCA Summer Tours

Every June, GCA leads a bus tour for independent garden center owners, managers and staff, as well as supporting vendors, to go behind the scenes at leading independent garden retailers in one major metropolitan area in the United States. Hosted over three days, the tour's purpose is to help independent garden centers recharge their creative batteries, and foster connections between members of the industry.

History

From 1973 until 2002, GCA contracted with the American Association of Nurserymen (AAN) (later the American Nursery & Landscape Association, ANLA) to manage the affairs of the corporation. One part of that agreement required that potential members of GCA would be required to first be a member of the AAN.

In February 2002, the Board of ANLA voted to terminate the relationship since they were unable to come to an agreement with GCA on the future direction of that relationship.

In 2002, GCA contracted with Clayton W. Hannon (the retired executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurserymen, now the Oregon Association of Nurseries) to manage GCA on an interim basis.

In April 2005, management was moved to the Association Services Group (ASG) in LaGrange, Georgia.

GCA endorsed the Independent Garden Center Show and helped with its educational program. In April 2012, GCA ended its contract with ASG, unable to meet the financial obligations of its management contract, and signed an exclusive agreement with IGC Show founders to carry on GCA programs and activities under the IGC banner led by Jeff and Cheryl Morey, whose independent garden center dedicated entities include the IGC Show.

Strengthened by the independent vision and reach of the IGC banner, Garden Centers of America, LLC, operates independently as a separate entity under the GCA name. The GCA board will act as the group's Leadership Council, providing valuable insights to make GCA even more relevant to its membership through expanded programs and offerings sponsored by IGC.

Related Research Articles

The Oberlin Group of Libraries is a consortium of liberal arts college libraries. The group evolved from meetings of college presidents in 1985 and 1986 at Oberlin College. As of 2021, it has 80 members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ABC News Radio</span> Radio service of ABC News in the United States

ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-past the hour, to its network affiliates. ABC News Radio is the largest commercial radio news organization in the US.

Ellerbe Becket was an independent Minneapolis, Minnesota-based architectural, engineering, interior design and construction firm until 2009, when it was acquired by AECOM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Association of Fire Chiefs</span> International fire fighting association

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is a non-profit network of more than 12,000 fire chiefs and emergency officers in 30 over countries. The Association was established in 1873 with John S. Damrell as president. It is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, United States. The President and Chair of the Board is Donna Black, Fire Chief, of Duck, North Carolina. The CEO and Executive Director is Rob Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of the United States</span> Overview of and topical guide to the United States

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the United States:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Lee Hu</span> American artist, goldsmith and educator

Mary Lee Hu is an American artist, goldsmith, and college level educator known for using textile techniques to create intricate woven wire jewelry.

A terminal market is a central site, often in a metropolitan area, that serves as an assembly and trading place for commodities. Terminal markets for agricultural commodities are usually at or near major transportation hubs. One of the models of a Terminal Market is a Hub-and-Spoke model wherein the Terminal Market is the hub which is to be linked to a number of collection centers - the spokes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominican Order in the United States</span>

The Dominican Order was first established in the United States by Edward Fenwick in the early 19th century. The first Dominican institution in the United States was the Province of Saint Joseph, which was established in 1805. Additionally, there have been numerous institutes of Dominican Sisters and Nuns.

The U.S. Congressional International Conservation Caucus, founded in September 2003, is a bipartisan congressional organization with the conviction that “the United States of America has the opportunity, the obligation and the interests to advance the conservation of natural resources for this and future generations,” and a commitment to promote U.S. leadership in public/private conservation partnerships worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Days of Light</span> 1992 single by Roger Daltrey

"'Days of Light'" is a song by Roger Daltrey from his eighth solo album, Rocks in the Head. The song was written by Daltrey and Gerard McMahon, and features lyrics about looking forward to the weekend. According to Daltrey, the song was inspired by his early career as a worker in a sheet-metal factory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent Garden Center Show</span>

The Independent Garden Center Show is held every year since 2007 in Chicago, IL, in the United States.

The 1997 Edward R. Murrow Awards were presented by the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), now renamed the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) in recognition of what the association terms "outstanding achievements in electronic journalism." National winners were selected from a pool of regional award winners. Below are the 1997 national and regional award winners, which recognizes coverage that aired during the previous 1996 calendar year.

Adams Publishing Group LLC(APG) is a company that provides publishing services, including newspapers, periodicals, and website publishing in the United States. Its corporate headquarters is located in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Mark Adams, the son of Stephen Adams, founded Adams Publishing Group in late 2013. In March 2014, APG began to acquire newspapers and media related businesses. As of 2022, it owned more than 127 newspapers in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Look Back Library</span> Preservation organization

Look Back Library (LBL) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of skateboard magazines, and other printed skateboard materials, through traveling exhibits and the building of publicly accessible skateboard magazine libraries.

The National Association of Artists' Organizations (NAAO) was, from 1982 through the early 2000s, a Washington, D.C.-based arts service organization which, at its height, had a constituency of over 700 artists' organizations, arts institutions, artists and arts professionals representing a cross-section of diverse aesthetics, geographic, economic, ethnic and gender-based communities especially inclusive of the creators of emerging and experimental work in the interdisciplinary, literary, media, performing and visual arts. At the apex of its activities, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, NAAO served as a catalyst and co-plaintiff on the Supreme Court case, National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley having spawned the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression. NAAO's dormancy in the early years of the 21st century led to the formation of Common Field.

References

  1. "Garden Centers of America - 2018 Award Winners". www.gardencentersofamerica.com. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  2. "GCA announces Best Garden Center Bathroom Award winners - Garden Center Magazine". Garden Center Magazine. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  3. "Garden Centers of America - 2017 Award Winners". www.gardencentersofamerica.com. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  4. "Garden Centers of America - 2016 Award Winners". www.gardencentersofamerica.org. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  5. "Garden Centers of America - 2015 Award Winners". www.gardencentersofamerica.org. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  6. "Garden Centers of America - 2014 Award Winners". www.gardencentersofamerica.org. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  7. "Garden Centers of America - 2013 Award Winners". www.gardencentersofamerica.org. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  8. "Garden Centers of America - 2012 Award Winners". www.gardencentersofamerica.org. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  9. "Garden Centers of America - 2011 Award Winners". www.gardencentersofamerica.org. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  10. "Garden Centers of America - 2020 GCA Summer Tour Boston". gardencentersofamerica.wildapricot.org. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  11. "Events Archive". Lawn & Garden Retailer. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  12. "2019 GCA Summer Tour registration now open". Garden Center Magazine. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  13. "GCA Summer Tour announces its itinerary and education extras". Garden Center Magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  14. "GCA Announces Complete Seattle Garden Center Summer Tour Details". Greenhouse Grower. 2018-03-09. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  15. "Garden Centers of America announces dates, stops for 2017 Summer Tour - Garden Center Magazine". Garden Center Magazine. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  16. "Garden Centers of America - GCA Summer Tour 2017". gardencentersofamerica.wildapricot.org. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  17. "Garden Centers of America - GCA Summer Tour 2016". www.gardencentersofamerica.com. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  18. "Garden Centers of America - GCA Summer Tour 2015". www.gardencentersofamerica.com. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  19. "2015 GCA Summer Tour features nearly 20 stops - Garden Center Magazine". Garden Center Magazine. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  20. "Garden Centers of America - GCA Summer Tour 2014". www.gardencentersofamerica.com. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  21. "GCA announces details of California summer tour - Garden Center Magazine". Garden Center Magazine. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  22. "Garden Centers of America - GCA Summer Tour". gardencentersofamerica.wildapricot.org. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  23. "GCA Announces Ohio Summer Tour Lineup, Opens Registration – Lawn & Garden Retailer". lgrmag.com. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  24. "Registration is open for GCA's 2012 Summer Tour - Garden Center Magazine". Garden Center Magazine. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  25. "Registration Opens for GCA Summer Tour in Detroit – Lawn & Garden Retailer". lgrmag.com. Retrieved 2018-01-10.