Local Business Spotlight:

BRADY’S WEST GARDEN & FLORAL

The Spotlight

The team at Brady’s - ready to serve all of your garden and landscaping needs!

Tell us a little about your background and who you are.

We are Brady's West and are owned by four brothers that comprise Brady Brothers Inc. In 2008, the Brady Brothers bought the former Denoyer's nursery here in Salida and renamed it Brady's West with Derald Brady assuming responsibility for managing it. Over the past 13 years, Brady's West has grown from being a small nursery to a full-service nursery, garden, and spa business. We have 19 greenhouses (for annuals, hanging baskets, perennials, vegetables, and herbs) and several other buildings, including a large retail and floral center, a spa and patio showroom, and a perennial house. A large portion of our 8 acres is devoted to our two "yards"--one for our trees and shrubs and one for our bulk materials (soils, stone, rock, and block). We also provide complete landscaping services--from design through installation. We currently have 26 full-and part-time employees, whose sole purpose is to provide our customers with the highest level of professional service in the nursery industry.

What is Brady's mission/vision statement?

We believe in honesty, respect, cooperation, and fairness both in business and in life. These values guide our work ethic, our genuine caring for our customers, and our interactions with each other as members of the Brady's West team. Since we founded Brady's West Garden and Floral here in Salida in 2008, our business has been guided by three overarching goals. First, to provide the highest quality plant materials and supplemental products to our customers. Second, to provide our customers with unequaled service and support. Third, to forge and maintain strong personal connections with our customers in Salida, Buena Vista, and surrounding communities as we help them fulfill their vision for beautifying their homes and landscapes. We are passionate about our customers, our community, and our products.

How long have you been operating?

As a family, the Bradys have been in the nursery and landscape business for over 60 years and engaged in retail sales for almost 30 years. We've been here in Salida since 2008 and have loved every minute of it.

What motivated you to start your own business?

Two things, actually. First, our parents, Dick and Rhoda, passed down their love of plants and honest, hard work through the family business to us. The nursery and garden center business is in our blood, so to speak. The second is that while I was working outside the family business for a while, I had a less-than-positive experience with my employer. I learned what NOT to do from him as a business owner in terms of how to treat employees and interact with customers. I decided then and there that I wanted to successfully operate a positively oriented business, so I returned to the family business firmly committed to the idea that the workplace should enhance the lives of both employees and customers. Our employees will tell you that we all work very hard, but we have a lot of fun, too, as we all strive to provide our customers with the highest quality customer service.

Laura Brady tends to flower baskets in the greenhouse.

Please describe the services you offer.

We are a full-service nursery and garden center that focuses on home, garden, and yard beautification; outdoor beautification for local businesses; and floral arrangements for special occasions. We carry hundreds of outdoor trees, shrubs, annuals, and perennials; a large variety of indoor plants; and soils, fertilizers, gravel, rock, and flagstone. We also have a large spa and outdoor furniture center and retail center for garden supplies, pottery, yard art, and a floral department. In terms of outdoor services, we offer delivery of any of our products and installation of trees and shrubs, as well as full landscaping services including design consultation for traditional landscaping, hardscaping, and xeriscaping.

What makes your business stand out from other businesses offering similar services or products?

First, we are the largest and most complete nursery and garden center in the area, which means that we offer the widest possible range of products and services of any single home and commercial beautification business in Salida, Buena Vista, and surrounding communities. Second, we have a reputation for providing outstanding personal service to our customers. We pay careful attention to their needs and offer individualized recommendations to help customers meet their home beautification and landscaping goals. Simply put, every Brady's West employee loves what they do and are committed to providing our customers the very best in personal service.

Team member, Peyton, waters plants in the greenhouse.

What are your customers saying about you? What keeps them coming back?

The feedback we have received from our customers over the years has been and remains overwhelmingly positive. They like our products, our services, and our commitment to complete customer satisfaction with those products and services. More than anything, though, our customers truly appreciate the positive, can-do approach to the business of our Brady's West team. Not only are we highly selective in the products and services that we offer, we inspire our customers to come back time and time again because they know that we genuinely appreciate them as individuals and will do our best to assist them as they shop with us.

Have you won any awards or had any special recognition or acknowledgment of your business?

During the 13 years since Brady's West has been in Salida, we have been fortunate to receive lots of local awards and recognition, and we are very grateful for the support and friendship that the community has offered us. Indeed, such acknowledgment plays an important part in motivating us to continue to work hard toward maintaining our reputation. But, if truth be told, our greatest rewards continue to be what our customers say to us as they leave Brady's West. Simple words of thanks for being helpful go a long way in reinforcing our approach to personalized customer service, which fuels our desire to do even better.

What are your plans for the future of your business?

We are constantly seeking new ways to improve Brady's West by continuing to develop our product and services lines and striving toward perfection in our customer service. A key aspect of our work is the continuing education of our employees through weekly tutorials and discussions about the products and services we offer. But no matter what particular focus our continuing education is for any given week, a constant theme is how to provide the highest level of service to each and every one of our customers regardless of what they might be purchasing at Brady's West. It doesn't matter if the customer is buying a bag of grass seed or enough trees to create a forest, we want every customer to leave our store happy with their purchases and impressed by the level of personal attention they receive from us.

Is there anything special you would like to feature about your business?

We have a great team of full-and part-time employees. The team is extremely hard-working and dedicated to their various jobs at Brady's West. A unique aspect of the team this year is each employee's willingness to help other team members carry out their responsibilities no matter what they may be. As hard as we all work, though, we never forget to stop and enjoy our customers and each other. Even during the busiest of days, we maintain our collective sense of humor and positive attitude. We truly are a team and truly love what we do!

We have recently completely overhauled our website (bradyswest.com) to be more informative about our products and services and to be more educational for our customers. On the new website, readers will find a complete description of all of our perennials, shrubs, and trees as well as items that support yard and landscape beautification. We also provide dozens of photographs of our outdoor living products--patio furniture, spas, spa products, yard art, pottery, and gardening tools as well as the landscape services we provide. We also provide tips and advice for creating and maintaining beautiful landscapes and yards. We have found that our customers make more informed and efficient decisions when they have done some research about what they are looking for ahead of time.

Derald Brady - preparing the ground to plant trees!

Do you have any upcoming events or specials that you would like to share with us?

Spring and summer are the busiest time of year for us, so our focus right now is wholly on working with our customers on-site.

Please tell us one of your favorite things about being a part of our community.

One of the things we most appreciate about Salida, Buena Vista, and the surrounding communities is the love and respect that people have for the out-of-doors and that includes their yards and local landscapes. People really have a strong desire to beautify their homes and yards and then to take the time to relax and enjoy the little bit of heaven they have created on their property. We love knowing that we are able to help our friends and neighbors in creating personal outdoor spaces that make them happy. Thus, support is a two-way street: We are in business to help develop and support community beautification, and in turn, the community gives us their loyal support by shopping with us time and time again. We are most appreciative to live and work in an area in which people value and care so much for natural beauty.

What are your hours of operation? Do you have seasonal hours?

Our doors open at 8:30 am and close at 5:30, Monday through Friday. On Saturday, we open at 9:00 am and close at 5:00 pm. During May and June, we also are open on Sundays from 11 am through 4:00 pm.

GET IN TOUCH
Brady’s West Garden & Floral
7121 County Road 107, Salida, CO 81201
719-539-6400 | bwoffice@bradybrothersinc.com

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