By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
A well-known regional garden retailer’s proposal to open a seasonal store in the Village of Waterford sparked more concern than excitement when planning officials took up the request last week.
Concerns include a possible negative impact on similar merchants already rooted in the village.
Representatives from Stein Gardens and Gifts came before the Waterford Plan Commission March 21, seeking permission to operate a satellite garden center under the moniker Stein Just Plants in part of the parking lot outside Pick ’n Save, 515 N. Milwaukee St.
In recent years, Stein has operated these so-called pop-up stores – a term in the retail industry used to describe a temporary, seasonal operation – throughout the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Last year, Stein Just Plants stores cropped up in Cedarburg, Muskego, Oak Creek, Pewaukee and Waukesha. Stein officials plan to increase the number this year.
Stein Just Plants is a small, scaled-down version of the retailer’s permanent, standalone stores and operates during the busy planting season in May and June for about eight weeks. A small selection of merchandise is sold in a 40-by-75-foot greenhouse, including flowers, gardening materials and landscaping products.
Commissioners were not scheduled to vote on the Stein proposal at last week’s meeting. But the appointed body did hold a public hearing where several concerns were raised by residents. Several commissioners also raised similar sentiments.
Lifelong resident Leona Robran operates a similar business in Waterford under the name Robran’s Greenhouse. Robran said having a competitor like Stein Just Plants here could be the final nail in the coffin for her business, which has been struggling in recent years.
“I’ve had to cut back already, and I don’t know much more I’ll be able to cut back before going out of business,” Robran said. “I hope that I can continue to operate in Waterford, but I’m not sure if I’d be able to continue doing this if (Stein Just Plants) comes in here.”
Robran said she frequently works with local organizations and businesses and has all Waterford-based employees.
Stein representative Bryan Linstroth said the Just Plants pop-up store would have a similar goal, adding that the seasonal operations are used as a litmus test for a possible permanent standalone building in the community. Stein, he said, is looking to expand the number of its year-round stores.
“We are looking to hire people in the community,” he said.
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Please don’t let Stein’s come to Waterford. I appreciate the small town local vendors. Racine and Milwaukee are not to far to drive if you really want Stein’s items. I have grown up here my entire life, I purchased a home here to raise my family for the small town feel. Robran’s and Kojis are locals. Let’s support local farmers not corporate gurus.
It’s time to support the local farmer, the one who works tirelessly caring for what they grow, not the corporate giant that has no idea what actually goes into producing the final product…
Why would the village board let a big conglomerate come into a small town like Waterford when it appears to be well covered by local people. It would look as though you would be trying to drive them out.
o my gosh we really dont need steins coming in doing there special deals and taking down a local regular grower who has spent many years growing for the community flowers and produce to set a pop up greenhouse for 6 to 8 weeks and has to pay no taxes or any other fees of the town it just doesnt sound right have them go to a new community please…….
I just don’t understand how our village board can even consider letting Stein’s come to Waterford. Both Robran’s and Kojis need our local support to keep them from going under. Steins isn’t that far away so that people can still shop there if they can’t get what they need here in waterford/ Let’s support our local businesses, not the big business conglomerates!
Please don’t let Steins come to Waterford. We like to support our local growers!!!
Support your local business! It’s time to do whatever we can as a community to make the most of our resources here in Waterford!
Denial vs. support. This is really the issue. We respectfully request that the Board not focus on looking at how to deny a permit but rather focus on the simplicity of this concept: We are going to support local SBO’s, both of which would be adversely affected by granting the permit. These SBO’s are owned, run and staffed by local and ethical men and women. They are not the new kids on the block and their contributions to the community far exceed the sales and services they are known for. They make local purchases for their businesses–gas for transporting products, oil for heating greenhouses, parts and materials to keep operations up and running, etc.—and monetary contributions, based on sales, to two local churches. The support of the Village Board is needed to continue this. Support your local SBO’s. Cast a vote in support of them. Stand up and produly say: We support our local businesses and value what they contribute to the community. Thank you.
I live in Grafton, and I pass several Steins so I can buy from Robran’s. I prefer to support their business!
Cool, Judy. On behalf of Leona Robran, Thank You.
Robrans has everything I need for my garden. Please don’t let Steins in!!!
I live about 1 mile from Stein’s in Oak Creek. Unfortunately I feel they have gotten away from being a small company and is now on what I call the “Walmart list”. We can’t consider them local anymore.
The larger and farther away a community becomes, the smaller the community gets. This is very detrimental to a society. The community loses it’s connection to one another. The bigger we shop, (big box stores… I wont name them, we all know who they are) QUALITY of products and knowledge of staff becomes lacking.
Having a local farmer is a luxury that we all take for granted. One by one we are losing them to huge corporations that keep “buying up” businesses with cheaper and poorer product.
In the end, once all farmers are lost and only a few industrial large companies are running, the prices will skyrocket and quality and community will be gone.
Please VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS and support your LOCAL farmers.
Small business’s are the backbone of our country, local state and the Federal Goverments continue to make dicisions based on lobbying efforts by large companies. Drive through any older town or city of America and see how many of the businesses on their main streets are boarded up. Wake up small town USA. Support your longterm small businesses helping them and providing a personal service for your residents its a win win situation.
It is time to step up to the plate and take a stand to support local businesses. We need to push back on BIG businesses encroaching on our local family run busineeses. There is no need for Steins to set up a temporary shop in Waterford. Our spring planting needs are well met by our local growers. It is the green thing to do. Think Globally and act locally! Robran’s offer us high quality plants that beautify our Waterford landscapes. I vote to keep Steins out of Waterford. They get plenty of our business during the rest of the year. Spring plants don’t need to be imported! Robrans have a long history of supporting the community and we need to stand up for them. Thank you.
Please keep Leona in business, and keep Waterford the small community it is.
We support local small business owners. We do not want or need a Steins in Waterford.
I have a small business that I recently started so I know first hand how hard it is to try and make it in these hard times. I have always supported our LOCAL BUSINESSES whenever possible. As stated in previous comments – we want to keep supporting Robrans and Kojis’, and ALL other local businesses. Please do NOT help Stein’s push our locals “under the bus”. How greedy can they get?
I think that it is time to support our local business people. Local farmers have already invested heavily in order to have merchandise for the coming season. To have a request like this, just before the season opens, certainly is not fair to the local businesses. I really think that our board should, in all fairness, not grant a permit for the coming season.
What is wrong with letting Stein’s set up shop? If there are no policing/illegal pricing etc issues then of course let them in. Nobody has to go there if they don’t want to. Not fair? Yeah not fair to Steins or to any free person wanting to engage in commerce. C’mon people.
Steins did start out as a local family business but I believe greed is now what’s running the company. Where does Stein’s grow all their annuals and Perennials? Do they grow locally or are they trucked in? Are they selling at a fair price?
I just spoke with Steins, and most of their product comes from Michigan, Minnisota, and Georgia. They do purchase “some” from Germantown. Think about trucking in flats of annuals, and heavy pots from out of state. Think of the impact on the environment. Think of the oil used to get those here. If we use a local grower like Robran’s who purchase plugs and seeds, you shorten the distance. What community does the money go to?
Once places like Steins, Home Depot, Walmart take over all the competition, they will then be able to raise the prices back up to a fair amount. They will be able to hire even cheaper labor because all those with skills will have no other choice but to work for them because that will be all that is left.
If we dont make changes now, we will end up in community with one very large Walmart to supply everything you need…all because we wanted a cheap and convenient product.
Keep in mind Robran’s Farms flowers and veggies are sold at an extremely fair price to the shopper. When I grow my own stuff and factor in the electricity for the light, soil, seed and my LABOR…I would be better off driving out to Waterford and just buying them.
Please please see the importance in this.
C’mon, Tom. You can answer your own question by reading, and comprehending, the many intelligent comments from responders who want to give an edge of support to local SBO’s.
Actually, I see alot of genuine emotional but misplaced comments. Why should the law be used to benefit one person over another? Thats the question that hasnt been answered. What if the shoe was on the other foot and these Waterford businesses had grown and not been allowed in other communities? This is jealousy of the worst kind. Support local businesses with voluntary dollars, not crony decisions that make everyone dirty. Is this America or Obamanation? Make sure they follow the rules and if they come in, like anyone, they are welcome to try their business here.
This is not about a law benefiting one person over another. I would feel the same if a Waterford businesses chose poor practices. This is about ethics. This is about community and the environment for me, not jealousy. People will not support local businesses as a voluntary because they will be drawn in by the unfair pricing and early availablity. We are in a generation of the “me” generation. All about what I want, I want it now, and I want a lot of it. Life should not be about survival of the fitest and richest. It is about caring for your family and friends…your neighborhood. Yes this is America, a DEMOCRATIC America thanks to people that support their communities and thanks to people like Obama.
“We are in a generation of the “me” generation.”
We certainly are. Law and fairness out the window. What can my friends and cronies give me. Never thought this element existed around here. Democracy to you is changing the rules of the game to fit your personal desires. Sickening. Youre right thuggery, corruption, and lack of rules work ethic and competition thanks to Obama and mentality like this. Lemme guess whats next, a local gardening tax? Its not fair I grow my own stuff and not buy from the “locals”? You people are nuts.
Do not let Steins into Waterford!!! I have not only gotten plants from Leona Robran for my own home, but for some of my neighbors who cannot conveniently get to Waterford on their own!! We have access to several Steins and would prefer that our plants come from Leona Robran! Not only are her plants much better quality, but she knows so much about them!! Why force her out of business and replace her with a commercial store that could care less about the plants, but simply their bottom line!! Shouldn’t Waterford be supporting their small businesses – not to mention one whose been in existence for a very long time??? Support your local farmers!!!!!!
Please put politics and your anger aside and think about ethical and moral choices to better your community.
Situations like this are like a small grain of sand within a huge pile, weighing us all down and we dont even realize it until its to late. Please think about a much bigger picture.
Now Gilbert has come around. Put politics aside by not letting a political body stop free commerce and movement. Think about the morals and ethics of banning someone else’s freedoms for your own personal gain. Think about how this “small” situation if applied in the bigger picture weighs all our freedoms down and extinguishes them before we realize it and it’s too late. Put the personal anger and jealousy aside and do what is right.