PROJECT OVERVIEW:
- CLIENT: GIE Media Inc.
- PUBLICATION: Greenhouse Management Magazine
- PROJECT: Cover Story
- INDUSTRY: Horticulture / Greenhouse
- FEATURING:
- Nick Shipley, chief operations officer at Civano Growers
- Alex Shipley, chief sales officer at Civano Growers
- READ IT: “It’s a Family Affair at Civano Growers“
Pictured from left to right: Chris, Nick, Les and Alex Shipley have grown their family greenhouse business in Tucson by focusing on desert adaptive plants. The three brothers and their father
Since moving from British Columbia to Tucson in 1997, the Shipley family built Civano Growers into a major commercial greenhouse that supplies landscapers and independent garden centers throughout the Southwest. Over the years, Civano introduced a palette of patented plants bred specifically for extreme desert conditions. But the company’s increasing market share eventually caused inventory overgrowth. To solve the surplus and refine their focus, the Shipleys had to slash hundreds of SKUs.
I initially interviewed the youngest Shipley son, Nick, for the monthly grower profile I write for Greenhouse Management. But my editors were curious to learn how Nick worked together with his brothers to whittle Civano’s inventory from 400 SKUs down to 80. So I followed up with Nick’s brother, Alex, who oversees the wholesale division, to get more perspective about the process. The resulting story landed on the cover of Greenhouse Management magazine.
