New Storefront - Rare Fruit Feedback

General Fruit Growing
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Hey all! My wife and I are starting a new Storefront on the coast of Alabama.

1501 N McKenzie St, Foley, AL, and hoping to do so by March 1.

Since our focus will be on rare fruit trees, plants, gardening supplies and even a unique little cafe, I am seeking the wants and suggestions from the community of enthusiasts.

Please give your feedback on what types of fruit trees are hard to find, in demand and something you’d love to see in a nursery. Due to limited space, I only want to carry certain things which people want.

We have been fruit tree collectors for many years, and accumulated hundreds of tree varieties. So hopefully this new adventure will help us to give back to the community in some way. Whatever we carry in the store will eventually be made available online also.

So far, we’ve been moving seeds, scions and custom grafted trees, but taking this to the next level at a storefront is exciting for us.

Please keep this thread on topic with suggestions and feedback of what to carry and any advice you wish to offer.

Once we are up and running, I will be excited to meet any hobbyist wishing to make a trip into our neck of the beach.

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Virus Davidiiimage

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If your doing a retail store front I think you may have to carry more common cultivars of fruit trees since local demand will probably be higher for these. Or you need to find a way to get people to travel to your store from some distance.

If you’re wanting to do online sales and ship trees I think you could easily specialize in rarer cultivars and heirlooms. Almost all of my trees I buy online or mail order and have them shipped.

Probably it would be best to ship at first and then after you gain experience and know the market better then establish a retail store. There are a lot of costs that go with having a store front and initially sales will be low. You could ship from your home initially and avoid the cost of a retail store.

I would recommend this book since it covers the business aspects of running a nursery well. Most books deal with the horticultural aspect and almost ignore the business side of things.

https://www.amazon.com/So-You-Want-Start-Nursery/dp/0881925845/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JNTBJ6UNMJEK&dchild=1&keywords=so+you+want+to+start+a+nursery&qid=1612564320&s=books&sprefix=So+you+want+to+start+%2Cstripbooks%2C186&sr=1-1

As far as to what to sell I don’t think I could advise on specific cultivars. You haven’t really narrowed down what you have experiences with and want to sell by species. And what I want or others on the forum want may not represent what your customers are going to want.

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mroot,

Yes, we will have the common stuff by default as it moves quite well. The luring point with us will be customizing and building to order grafted cocktail trees.

We’ve been doing this online and ship to all 50 states as well as 18 other countries. Online is where the more rare fruit trees and heirloom garden fruits and vegetables come into play.

Due to the increasing demand and need for a Storefront, we are having to expand. We have already committed and are in the remodeling phase, so it is full steam ahead at this point. That said, the online presence is so strong, the expenses for the Storefront’s first two months have been and were covered within the first 10 days of acquiring it from online sales alone. So, we are quite excited to add this new endeavor.

I have hundreds of fruit types, and easily a dozen or more varieties of each type of fruit already, but I am open to other suggestions also. Looking for some very rare items which are in high demand and stick out somewhat, so I can make sure to propagate those and get them into the hands of the public.

Thank you so much for the input and for the link to that book. It will certainly be an experience and learning curve all around, and any advice will help. I love reading information such as that.

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Can’t speak for anyone else, but one thing I’ve wanted but rarely seen is cold-hardy avocado varieties (Mexican race/ drymifolia subspecies), grafted on pure cold-hardy drymifolia rootstock, or own-rooted. Many nurseries carry things like Fantastic, Wilma/Brazos Belle, Lila… but mostly grafted on Lula (a West Indies race/ americana subspecies cultivar).

This might not be the best choice for your area, as drymifolia is the least salt-tolerant subspecies, but it would be better for zone pushers everywhere with low salinity in the soil/water.

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If you are interested in propagating Asimina triloba, I’d recommend tracking down Jerry’s Big Girl, Maria’s Joy, Al Horn’s White, Prima 1216, Kentucky Champion, Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Marshmallow, PA Golden #3, KSU Chapell, Regulus, and Ark-21.

I’d also suggest Jeanne Gooseberry.

I would also advise you to look at the threads on the forum talking about the best nurseries currently out there and seeing what they mention as popular. I just started reading the book mentioned above and recommend it too.

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Figs: Only the most common varieties are easy to purchase as plants (vs dormant cuttings) with a few exceptions like the French Fig Farm. This might be something to explore.

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Have you check out Logee’s in CT?

https://www.logees.com/.

What you want to do reminds me of how Logee got started. Check it out. It could give you plenty if ideas.

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One thing that comes to mind are the hybrid persimmons and super early pawpaw’s. There are only a few nurseries that carry the more recent, probably better, varieties of these.

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Swincher, that is actually one of the things we’ve been researching and pushing for over 20 years–cold tolerant species.

We have a Star fruit right now which is thriving in 8b without any winter damages since seed, and it has been pushed to the limits.

We do the same with Mexican styles avocados. Mexicali is one of those cold tolerant varieties that performs here. I’ll certainly be carrying those.

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Jcguarneri, we are definitely on it with the persimmons already, but pawpaws does sound like a good idea. I see people asking about them quite often and they grow like weeds in the southeast.

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Mamuang, very nice. Logees is using greenhouse to carry some really interesting items.

I have something similar with grow houses so I can carry cocao, tamarind, abiu, jackfruit, mango, ice cream bean, etc., which are then sold online.

I will definitely have to add some greenhouses here like Logees did so I can offer that stuff from the store for collectors.

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Logee has built its reputation for selling tropical and exotic plants quite successfully. Its store front is small. It does more by mail orders. Their numerous plants (fruiting and decorative plants) in the green house are impressive. I’ve been there a few times.

Good luck with your business.

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I suppose that depends on what you define as “rare,” and who your target market is.

It’s probably not me, because I’m way up in Michigan, where we’re going to hit a high of 5F tomorrow. Yay!

I did, however, pull out some of my various books on preserves and fruit. Because I know that I’ve been frustrated by the lack of availability of some of the fruits in them, and I’ve found that same complaint voiced on Amazon reviews of these same sorts of books. So - here we go!

The book collection includes titles like, “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook,” “Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber,” “The River Cottage Preserves Handbook,” and “Perfect Preserves,” (the Nora Carey book, not whatever goes by that title now. I’ve had it a while). It’s a mix of recipes from England, France (Alsace), and California. And I have other books with similar focus, so that’s what I’ll kind of throw at you.

I’m not sure what would actually grow in your climate (and I know a fair few of these would not make it in mine!), the fruits I usually regard as very difficult to find either as fruit or as trees:

Quetsch plums (Alsatian)
Damson plums
Greengage plums (these are a little easier to find, but not by much)
Passe-crassane pears
Bergeron apricots
Seville Oranges
Rangpur limes
Buddha’s Hand citron

I’d also like to get my hands on a few Dutch varieties, which is probably really pushing the envelope.

Cherry plums (I think there are multiple varieties. Mostly these are a small, red plum that used to be a big thing)
Dutch “May Cherries,” which are a cross between sour and tart cherries that bear very early in the season (although not in May).

Those are a few random thoughts.

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Good to hear! Here’s a good blog post about some rarer cold-tolerant avocado cultivars that have performed well in north-central FL, which should be similar to your climate, and something to consider beyond the usual Mexicola and Mexicola Grande (good varieties worth carrying), and Winter Mexican (which you shouldn’t bother carrying because it’s not very cold hardy or tasty).

And if you want to try some varieties that haven’t been tested there as much, look into Aravaipa, Duke, and the new introductions Royal-Wright and Second Red from @Marta:

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cold hardy avocados would be great! I finally found one on cold hardy rootstock and planted it this year, only to have this winter storm bring in near record lows that i am certain will kill it. There are many different kinds of Szechuan peppercorn trees, but you don’t seen to be able to find any in the US, just two generic, chinese and japanese (if not just one generic listing). There was once a ban on these, but that has since been lifted, as with the heat treatment requirements. When you can get them fresh without the heat treatment, the spice is amazing.
Figs would be great as well, since it is easy to read about great varieties, but often you can’t find them, or you have to buy them from figbid, where the pricing can get out of hand.
Persimmon would be great too. There are some nurseries that carry a decent selection of these, but it would be a good addition.
Pawpaw and jujube are also pretty “exotic” compared to apples and peaches. Jujube breading in the US seems to be taking off by hobbyist. These also are adaptable to at least half the country, so it would increase your potential buyers.

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I came to New Haven, CT in 1978. Have visited Logee’s on and off over the ensuing years, including the transition from “uncle” to “nephew”, Byron?? That sort of dates me. I have a couple of plants from them still, including a kumquat that bloomed the first time after nearly 12 years. [Perhaps Byron will be able to connect “flowering” and “New Haven” in ways that he will be very familiar with?].

I still have their Jasminum officinale, lost the Camellia sasanqua, a good plant, and also lost the Citrus hystrix, that came as a very poor quality cutting, for all of $12, a considerabl sum in those days. So many more, mini begonias, and other begonias, among them. So, I was not a shy customer at first, and appreciated their range and prices.

Over time, have become less and less happy with the quality of the the plants supplied, sizes, and the care taken over cuttings. The Citrus hystrix never grew, never showed any apical dominance; having spent pretty much a lifetime with AWGalston, BB Stowe, and MH Goldsmith, working on auxins and flowering, this type of poorly chosen, blind cutting rankles with me still. I nursed the tiny sprig of kumquat to flowering size for more than 12 years, so there is no dearth of care and love here.

Hoping the constructive criticism offered here will allow Logees to regain their place in the hearts and confidence of many of their oldest and faithful customers. Would urge them to take a deeper look at choice dwarf gardenias, and Michaelia spp. They are often out of the Passiflora incarnata types, especially the ones released by USDA (?).

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Thank you for this insight. Since we took things online, we have been very careful to replace anything someone has an issue with, no questions asked. I hope to keep this service going for as long as we serve the public, as I want every customer to be pleased with their purchases. So far, everyone brags on the high quality of cuttings we’ve delivered, and we hope to keep that same level of quality ongoing.

Some orders were lost in the mail, some incinerated, some had grafts fail at their own error, and the moment we discovered any of this, a new order was shipped immediately to replace them. That caught some customers by surprise since many were new to grafting and simply failed to graft correctly, and I still replaced them. Then, offered them free video training and grafting instructionals.

As a business, we can make mistakes, but what matters is how we correct them. Hopefully that will always be the perception the public has with us and our serivces.

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Look into Jujube Goumi (Red Gem and Sweet Scarlet) are great nitrogen fixers and tasty fruit. Pineapple Guava. Some Hazel Nuts that do well in the southeast. Some of the Russian/Ukraine Cross Persimmons. Chinese Che. Green, Red, Orange and Gold Fuzzy Kiwi. Pluots.

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There are few online nursery sources for Chilean guavas and Japanese Raisin trees.

These might be good options as well…

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