While winter holidays come just once a year, one north Lansing business is rarely out of the holiday spirit.
For 38 years, The Plant Professionals have tended to the plant, floral and landscaping needs of Greater Lansing—including a consistent and expanding base of customers focused on seasonal decorating.
The Plant Professionals provide a mix of services that include interior and exterior landscaping, event-focused floral, plant rental and holiday decorating. And while installing artistic combinations of lights, wreaths, and seasonal plants takes center stage during the winter holidays, much of the planning, design and storage spans the seasons.
"Holiday decorating is a lot of fun because people enjoy it so much," says President Kathy Valentine. "You get so many smiles when you walk into an office to decorate. Even though it's stressful and you're working in a compressed timeframe, it's very satisfying to do."
To accommodate the logistics of their seasonal work, The Plant Professionals recently added a second storage facility on their grounds at 16886 Turner Street. The company began construction in the spring and completed the 60- x 24-foot pole barn in the fall. The new structure follows the expansion of the main building's mezzanine in early 2017.
Valentine says the new structure will provide a spacious, well-organized placed to store the hundreds of wreaths, trees, lighted reindeer, ornaments, strings of lights and other large decorative pieces The Plant Professionals combines into festive displays for dozens of businesses and organizations.
"This extra storage will give us the capability to continue to expand the types of services and décor we offer," says Valentine. "People like bright lights and sparkling glittery things. This extra space allows us to store the elements and do custom design from here."
Valentine says that 80 percent of their business comes through corporate and institutional clients. The remaining percent is a mix of residential customers needing landscaping and floral services. The Plant Professionals added three new staff to its installation team in 2017, for a total of 37 staff working year-round.
Source: Kathy Valentine, President, The Plant Professionals
Writer/Editor: Ann Kammerer, News Editor
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