Heroes of mine
I started in business in 1973 when I was 21 years of age and.... I had heroes. First of all, I had my Father. He owned a printing company located in downtown Houston. He owned a square city block close to where the George R. Brown Convention Center is located today. He employed over 100 people back in 1972. I worked for him as a teenager in the summers and then when I left college in 1971. I was in the lowest level of management (night shift) when he passed away in 1972. My career ended because my Mom had to sell the business. Federal estate taxes have to be paid.
In the 7 years I worked for my father I got a sense of his character and the respect his employees had for him. My Dad's honesty and integrity caught the eye of an oil executive, in the mid-sixties. We did the printing for their public stock offering. I believe the company was Zapata Oil. I do know that the oil executive was George H Bush. He loaned my Dad the money to buy that business from a New York company that my Dad was working for. Fidelity Printing Company was born and when we had to sell the company, Mr. Bush's monetary investment in my Father's business was realized. When Mr. Bush became president in 1988 he named the presidential yacht the "Fidelity". I was told by my golf buddy, John P. Ward, that the yacht is in the presidential library at Texas A&M. I know that I need to go see it. I hesitate because of the emotions that the visit will bring forth. The other visitors will not understand a grown man sobbing in front of a boat.
Another hero for me was Sterling Cornelius. He was another man of quality that I would look up to for many years. He was a leader in the nursery business. He passed away recently but he sold his business to Calloway's Nursery, headquartered in Fort Worth.
The reason for this blog is that Calloway's has 4 nurseries in San Antonio that are closing down this summer. I will bet that the 3 Cornelius stores in Houston will follow. Calloway's has fired most of the competent Cornelius employees. Their green goods buyer (in Fort Worth) orders azaleas for their Houston stores when their Fort Worth stores sell them. 4 weeks too late in Houston! The people that they fired knew how to run those stores and make money. Who would want those guys working for you? Smart, confident executives! Not happening at Calloway's.
That will be a shame if Houston loses another independent garden store. Especially one with such a reputation as Cornelius. Garden centers are not the kind of business that can be run from anywhere except the store itself. The people from Wolf nursery that are now running Cornelius-Calloways should have learned from their mistakes in the 70's and 80's.
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I wondered what happened to Cornelius. The last time I was there, one of the employees was literally yelling and chastising another employee in front of all the customers! I couldn't believe it! As for Plants for all Seasons, I needed a certain color of dianthus which you didn't have. You took my name and number and not only called me when it came in, but you put a flat aside for me so that I would have first choice! With that kind of customer service, I won't shop anywhere else now!I really appreciate your knowledgeable staff!
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Thank you for your patronage and recognizing the great staff that I believe is the best in Houston. It saddens me to see a quality nursery like Cornelius change directions. They were doing everything right when Mr. Cornelius was the owner. A lot of good employees were kicked to the curb by businessmen in Fort Worth that do not understand what made Cornelius Nurseries in Houston so successful. The 1960 store has never been profitable. It might be the first to go.
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Victor, you've hit the nail right on the head. As one of the long-term employees of Cornelius (27 years of service) who quit due to Calloway's continuing incompetence, I can verify everything you've said. Mr. "C" was one of the kindest, most compassionate and competent of all the people in the field, and I'm sure that he's turning in his grave to see how Calloway's has ruined his dream. I find it maddening and a big slap in Mr. "C"'s face when I read that Calloway CEO, Jim Estill, "mentored" until Mr. "C". Obviously, he had ulterior motives in mind instead of learning from this great man.
In my opinion, Calloway's is trying to turn Cornelius into another Home Depot or Lowes. Hatchet Man, John Peters, and his "friend" Kimberley are using any means at all to develop a data base which they use to inundate their contacts with coupons. Back in the day, we didn't need to send our customers coupons to get them to visit our store. We had regular customers who recognized quality products and quality employees and that was all it took to maintain a healthy bottom line. The only way Calloways can get customers to buy their sub-par products at their inflated prices is to send coupons which will entice "box-store" clientèle to enter the store, usually just using the coupon to get the maximum free stuff and then waiting for the next coupon so they can receive more "freebies". The whole idea that once the customers enter the store, they will spend tons of money is a fallacy--look how successful this policy was in San Antonio.
When I resigned, I wrote a lengthy letter of resignation with suggestions for improvements and reasons for my dissatisfaction and emailed it to the direct supervisors and snail-mailed a hard copy to Jim Estill and John Peters. I never heard a word from anyone, and I'm sure my letter was filed in the "circular file" without any consideration.
Mr. and Mrs. "C", I love you both and feel bad for you that your "sterling" creation has disappeared. I thank God that facilities like Victor's still exist.
A final caveat to Calloway's--people can only be fooled for so long by sleazy promotions and inferior merchandise at outrageous prices. I can't wait until your corporation collapses, and I know Mr. "C" will be smiling knowingly when this happens. Try a little integrity, respect for your employees and common courtesy, things I'm sure Mr. "C" impressed upon Jim Estill during his mentoring. Also, try to live up to the "Christian" attitude that you profess. Hypocrites are never successful and Calloways is about as hypocritical as one can get.
Again, thanks for the forum for me to "vent", Victor, and thank you for continuing the dream that Mr. "C" started years ago.
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