After blooming for decades on city’s south side, small plant business to close by end of June

QUINCY — Jeff Rakers is treating his South End Plants business like he treats his flowers.

“I’ve always been taught, do it right the first time,” he said. “Quality, quality, quality. Keep them looking good. When (the flowers) don’t look good, get rid of them.”

So when thousands of dollars are needed to renovate his decades-old greenhouses at 2431 S. 12^th, Rakers, who turns 66 in June, doesn’t want to sell the business. He’d rather close it.

“I just wouldn’t feel good selling this to somebody knowing where the weak spots are,” he said. “The facilities now are subpar, and it would take too much of an investment to buy it initially and to pour the money back into it, because the competition is out there. It would be really hard to justify today starting this from scratch.”

As Rakers inches closer to retirement, he’s now counting the weeks and days, not the months. South End Plants will be closed before July 1.

Even though Rakers sees the building deteriorate, the quality of the plants hasn’t changed. He still offers a variety of vibrant blooms in a dazzling array of colors. He’s especially proud of his geraniums.

“I planted every single one of those geraniums,” he said. “They come to me about the size of your finger. I’m known for my geraniums. They’re perfect.

“Nobody ever walks in here and says, ‘Boy, this stuff looks rough.’ People go everywhere around town, and they will be a tomato plant at one store or a hanging basket at another store because they walk past it, and it’s a convenience buy. When they come here, my customers say, ‘My goodness, your stuff is far and away the best anywhere.’”

But now, it’s time to sell. 

South End Plants is a small-town business success story that has enjoyed 25 years with Rakers as the owner. He bought the business in 2000 from Pete Holtschlag, who continued the Holtschlag family business that started several decades ago when it was known as South End Plants and Produce, offering strawberries, melons, cabbage, green beans and sweet corn. 

Rakers, who has a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the University of Illinois, says the ”big box” stores have made it difficult for South End Plants to survive.

“There was no competition when I bought (the business),” Rakers said. “East Broadway was not developed yet. Other than a few grocery stores, this was about it to get retail plants.

“I used to have two monster greenhouses, but every year, this business keeps shrinking. I used to have half a dozen employees. I’m down to basically one or two. One guy and I pretty much do everything in this greenhouse. When we start to get busy in the spring, I’ll hire somebody to help me water. I’ll hire someone to help me as a cashier for a month get me over that hump. Now, I’m usually by myself here all day.”

Even in its final days, South End Plants still offers the same quality plants that it has for years.

“People are absolutely wowed when they walk in and see the color,” Rakers said. “I don’t ever put anything on sale. Never, not ever, for 25 years have I ever run a sale on plants. If you start that, people wait you out. As long as the plants look good, I keep the prices up. Grocery stores are starting to go out of business (of selling plants), and they’re panicking, selling everything for half price. They want to go back to selling groceries.

“I’m not trying to liquidate this. I’ll take half of those red geraniums next week, and they’ll just go away. Throw ‘em in a ditch. People just freak out that you throw things away, but you can’t eat them. If they’re not going to sell, I don’t need to water them for fun. People have already planted all of their big flower beds.”

Business typically picked up around St. Patrick’s Day, but Rakers often told customers they could look around the greenhouse while suggesting they didn’t buy anything.

“If you’re going to plant your flower beds in the third week of April, you’re throwing money away,” he said.

By Mother’s Day, most of Rakers’ popular flowers were sold out. He still makes a few bucks on occasion by selling garden and vegetable seeds, but the time and effort in creating the bouquet of flowers in his greenhouse is no longer necessary.

“When I sit here all day and make $100, I’d rather go play golf,” he said. “I took up the game last year, and I loved it. It’s a passion. I’m no good at it. I stink. I’m looking forward to playing a bunch of golf. It’s just another chapter of my life.

“My wife and I are both healthy. We can afford to retire, so let’s do it while we’re both healthy and both able to do it before something comes along that disables one of us that now, all of a sudden, we can’t do it.”

Hoebing’s Lawn and Garden, which has been in business since 1962 and is South End Plants’ next-door neighbor, will eventually buy the building to expand its services and use it for storage. J&H Concrete will buy another part of the property.

“It’s all going to work out,” Rakers said.

As he prepares to work on his golf swing in retirement, don’t expect him to keep his thumb green around his own home.

“The mechanic’s car always runs the worst,” Rakers said with a smile. “My wife does the landscaping, and her crews do the flower planting. Our yard is a showplace, but it has nothing to do with me.”