I went into the store the other day to get some sledgehammer to kill nut grass and none of the employees that were on the floor knew what that was. Finally one of the employees found an empty box and said it would take three months to get more. I also asked if they had any goal herbicide and none of the employees knew what goal herbicide was. I can't believe these employees work in a farm supply store. I ordered my sledgehammer on Amazon and got it in two days. read more

BEWARE OF RETURN POLICY!!!! I've been purchasing stuff here since this location opened. Not anymore! I bought misters, line and a sprinkler for the lawn and bushes on 7/17. After three days, the oscillating sprinkler I purchased was getting stuck in one direction and was not oscillating. I took it back to exchange it today 7/21 and was told "no", I couldn't exchange it because it was working. I told the sales rep "why would I drive 20 miles to replace a sprinkler if it was working?? He took it outside to test it and only put about 5lbs of pressure to it. Of course it's going to work at that low of pressure!! I'm running 45lbs. I told him he could keep the sprinkler and I would just go to Lowes because it wasn't worth my time arguing with him. I am cancelling my account and will do my business down the street at Lowes or Home Depot. You just lost a 20+ year customer! Their return policy is "at their discretion". B*ll Sh*t!! No wonder these mom and pop stores are going out of business. read more

They have everything tree fruit and citrus growers need. Knowledgable staff. Alway ready to help.

I have shopped at this farm-oriented hardware and farm supply company for many years and think highly of the employees on the floor and behind the counter, who for the most part are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Their stores have a good selection of high quality farm and garden tools and profressional grade light machinery from Honda, Husquavarna, Echo, and others. Shopping their comprehensive and well organized selection of PVC irrigation parts, sprinklers and pro-grade timer/ controllers will be a refreshing experience to those used to the frustrating chaos and incomplete selection found at the national chains. A good selection of home and garden fertilizer chemicals is on the store shelves with fertilizers available in farm-scale volumes in their yard. A modest offering of pest and disease control chemicals is more a sign of he regulatory climate than a shortcoming. This is more than offset by a good selection of safety equipment for pest control appocators, farm workers, landscape and general contractors.. Up to this point you would think a 4 or 5-star rating may be justified, right? Well, the business does a great job of delivering good old fashioned customer service in a store that is clean, organized and well stocked. Posiitive and competitive attributes that the business can build upon and use to leverage customer loyaly which in turn could generate revenue. Unfortunately they take the old fashioned approach to business too far .... Having weekday open hours from 7AM to 5PM, a shortened Saturday schedule and being closed on Sundays more than counters any competitive advantage gained from old fashioned customer service and store appearances. It is difficult to comprehend how or why Fruit Growers' management, at some level decided that sticking to the old-fashioned 5PM closing every day was a good idea; that this was good for business. Perhaps at a time when their customer base was almost entirely made up of a captive cooperative membership these hours could be justified. I am amazed that in today's business climate where sales and service companies and consultants jostle amongs one another in fierce competition for every farm dollar that this company's decision makers get away with this. Does Fruit Griwers Supply have a vision, a long range business plan that will keep the business competitive in a rapidly changing world? Well, maybe the company's vision is to be a competitive player amongst those providing service to the large and very large full-time family farming operations and farming corporations in the area, the likes of Grimway and Paramount, whose management perhaps would find the 7AM - 5PM hours fit their work schedule perfectly fine. But hang on, no, this cannot be their target customer base, they simply don't carry the volume of most items to serve large farms or corporate agriculture. So their model is to target smaller farms and part-time growers, right? Well, no that doesnt seem to be the case either because smaller growers most often work other jobs during the day and farm during their time off, often after hours. They just wouldn't have the window of opportunity to shop at Fruit Growers Supply, instead being forced to shop online, order items by phone from their local chemical supply reps or shop after hours at the huge Lowe's and Home Depot stores nearby -- which stay open a full five hours later closing at 10PM. So I can only come to the conclusion that Fruit Growers' Supply has somehow survived a fairly long period from its cooperative days until today, operating it seems on pure luck since they dont appear to be serving a clearly defined basic target customer base - nevermind having an idea of who their customer base will be in the future, or how they will build their business around this base to compete in the long term. Perhaps I am being too harsh now as the momentum of the pendulum pulls me too far in a negative direction. Maybe the company does have a vision - just that their's is a stubborn and narrow vision, one that wishes to preserve those old fashioned business values we all miss at whatever the cost, even if some make no sense in the modern competitive business world. Perhaps, with a bit of luck, this will draw in customers who share the longing for the past, and together they will eventually stifle and kill the business. If Fruit Growers Supply truly wants to grow with the times, then surely they need to clearly identify their customers, review their business strategy, built the business around their loyal customer base, and extend their offerings to attract new customers ......... ..... or at the very least review their hours of doing business so that customers like me are not shut out at 5PM after racing there from their day job!! read more