Water-Reliant Businesses Rethinking Plans in Drought
While California’s drought threatens current water consumption habits for everyone living in California, for small business the dry condition are both threatening profits and at the same time spurring innovation at landscapers, nurseries and plant succulent specialist in Studio City and surrounding valley neighborhoods.
Governor Jerry Brown ordered California’s first ever mandatory water restrictions for cities on April 1, requiring California cities to cut their water usage by 25 percent.
Dr. Kelly Sanders, a water management expert and assistant professor at USC, says Governor Brown’s restrictions are a step in the right direction. “We have green grass, we don’t always have drought tolerant plants,” Sanders said. “So I think it’s time we had a wake-up call.”
The state of California has been experiencing drought conditions for the last four years, with 41 percent of the state, including Los Angeles, currently in “exceptional drought,” the most extreme category of drought measurement, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
“We’ve been experiencing an unprecedented drought in the last three to four years, and an exceptional dry period over the last 10 years, the driest we’ve seen in the last thousand years of California history,” Sanders said.
Sanders acknowledged business would be affected moving forward due to water restrictions. “It’s going to be an awkward transition into this water scarce future,” Sanders said.
A case in point is Studio City. Nestled at the gateway to the San Fernando Valley where the Hollywood Hills meet the sprawling northern suburbs of the Los Angeles area it, along with neighboring North Hollywood, is home to several businesses adapting to the exceptional statewide drought.
Garden Temple, located on busy Ventura Boulevard in the heart of Studio City’s business corridor, may be directly impacted by the drought i as the store’s primary business is selling outdoor fountains and water features.
Holland Mills, son of the owners of Garden Temple and an employee of the 14-year-old business, said that his parents are very concerned that the drought could cut into their business’ profits. “Anything that harms our plants would be a detriment to us,” Mills said.
The 24-year-old employee added that many customers are interested in drought-resistant plants. “We’ve seen a huge increase in succulent purchases,” he said, adding that Garden Temple has been shifting towards selling more drought-resistant plants as fountain sales may prove to be futile in the near future.
Mills says that conservation is important to his family’s business and he is designing a water cache system for Garden Temple, which would be placed underneath the outdoor garden to try to save water that evaporates from fountains out in the sun.
Mills said that Garden Temple has lost business in districts such as Santa Monica that have put water rations and restrictions in place. The City of Santa Monica initiated Stage 2 of its Water Shortage Response Plan last summer, which included banning running water fountains with no recirculating systems.
While the drought may threaten the future of Garden Temple, another business is benefiting from the lack of water. Jenna Stewart, owner of Simply Succulents based in Studio City, credits the drought with driving her business which provides drought tolerant landscaping and outdoor designs.
Stewart began her Studio City based business in 2009 and and confirms that the drought is helping her business flourish even though it is detrimental to many other aspects of life in California.
Stewart focuses on “enviro-scaping,” a self-coined term that Stewart uses to describe her business, which reshapes entire environments and goes beyond traditional landscaping.
Stewart is worried about the future of the city due to the drought and would support future legislation to drastically restrict wasteful water usage. “The City of L.A. [has] to do drastic measures in order for people to understand this is a serious matter,” she said.
She encourages the increase of drought tolerant landscaping and urges people to educate themselves on how much money and water they can save by getting rid of traditional lawns and landscaping.
The owner of Francis’s Cactus Succulents in North Hollywood, has also benefitted from selling cacti and succulents. Francis’ business occupies an empty lot sandwiched between storefronts filled with shelves of desert plants on dusty Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood.
“The drought is great for business, people are buying cacti and succulents because they do not need to be watered for weeks,” said Francis, who asked that her last name not be published.
Although Francis’s business focuses on cacti, Stewart jokes that she always tells people that desert landscaping does not equal cacti or white pebbles and can be made to be beautiful.
The business owners of the San Fernando Valley are rolling with the punches of Mother Nature, adapting business plans to survive the drought for as long as possible and serve the needs of their respective communities.
