#84 DESIGNING THE STORE * (revised 6/3) the "bookends" buildings

These two are our "bookends", the capstones of the frontage structures of green garden gates.
They are square about twenty-five by twenty five feet with a height of about twenty feet. The exterior matches the colors and textures of the rest of the series of structures. In the Oklahoma green garden gates, it is stucco with southwest colors and accents. The floor is concrete, a highly polished and machine troweled. There is no heat, air conditioning and it is not insulated as it is used only during the spring to early fall gardening seasons. The upper part of the buildings are glass to give the customer a hint of "greenhouse" to our business. It is equipped with water, electrical and metal halide lighting fixtures.




We wanted more than just a greenhouse look with the structures. We discovered a group of young image designers in Nebraska who were developing a projection system able to shoot words and images from the inside onto large areas of glass and be highly visible for long distances outside the building. We imagined projecting fields of red poppies, black eyed susan or bee balm flowers of contrasting colors and shapes for our customers to view as they drove past green garden gates. The group agreed to install their new creation at green garden gates as a test of the technology.






Now, when the customers pass our store, they are treated to a dramatic color adventure in gardening with images or scenes or just changing hues of pleasing color.




Special signing can be also displayed on the front glass panels of the bookend buildings. An electric eye sensor measures the light of the day and turns off and on the system during anytime night or day.












Bookend #1

This is a transitional commuting building for our customers. They enter our world from this point, pick up a shopping cart, view the hot specials as they pass, pick up a cool drink or maybe a snack and move to areas of our store. We see this area as open and uncluttered, similar to a small lobby area. It is intended for our customers to "transition" and gather their thoughts before they enter the activity of the store. There is a large area carpet on the floor and the walls have esconce lighting, with cool soothing wall colors. The customer is greeted by a large square screen of 12 flat panel monitors placed together above the refreshment entrance with the colors and sounds of plants growing in fields and groups. We may allow one beautiful display of some gardening prop as they pass by to enter the plant area. This area is shielded from the exiting and checkout traffic activity by movable screens. This area is subdued and open and as quiet as possible. It is our "landing zone".


"Whatever is in the zone they cross before making that transition (from the parking lot to the inside of the store) is pretty much lost on them. If there is a display of merchandise, they are not going to take it in. If there is a sign, they will probably be moving too fast to absorb what it says. If the sales staff hits them with a hearty "Can I help you?" that answer is going to be "No, thanks." I guarantee it. Put a pile of fliers or a stack of shopping baskets just inside the door and shoppers will barely see them, and will almost never pick them up. Move them ten feet in and the fliers and baskets will disappear. It's the law of nature-shoppers need a landing strip"

"Why We Buy"
by Paco Underhill


#N shopping cart storage

This in an indoor out of the weather storage for clean dry shopping carts. There are other areas for shopping carts in the front of the structures. Shopping baskets are farther into this area just as they exit to the plants and products




#S Entrance Doors

This is the only entrance to green garden gates. There are two standard automatic glass doors.
(also, there is one additional solid panel garage door for another checkout area one very busy days. It is closed on cold days so the checkers won't freeze to death!)


#O Refreshment area

This area has inside servicing as well as an outside seating area, #W. The vending machines, snack machines and water cooler are located here. There are counters installed here for volunteer groups to serve snacks on busy days to earn money for their organizations. We have installed 220 power outlets and special restaurant utilities as we anticipate a small cafe service in the future. We see this as a quiet "sidewalk cafe" atmosphere. There are some selected books and magazines to browse and comfortable chairs with tables for some quiet conversation.




#P and #Q "Presentation Doors

These doors introduce our customers to the world of what we offer the gardener at green garden gates. #Q are standard sized automatic glass doors and #P are solid garage doors that are opened during the busy season and closed if the weather is bad and when we slow down after the peak season


A word about automatic doors......they are expensive but they are well worth the investment. We want them in some vital areas of the store, but we also want to be economical about it when it comes to doors that are not used as much during the season

#M and and the entire front of this series of buildings will be discussed in a later entry



Bookend #2

We have designed #2 to be a place for receiving, storage, repair and maintenance, as well as the restrooms for customers and employees. It has the same design as #1, with the same glass imaging roof and signing. It does not have windows in the front, but rather architectural relief indents for design appeal. Here are some of the features:


#C and #D Public Restrooms

In keeping with our philosophy of equal access bathrooms for the sexes, these are unisex facilities. They are equipped with low volume water flush toilets and urinals, tables and hooks for hanging clothing and storing purses and bags, baby changing stations, and automatic seat protectors. We have installed door handles that do not have to be touched with the hands and open and close with a push of the forearm ( our research indicates that customers, especially women do not want to turn a knob to a bathroom with their hands)

“If I bought a gas station tomorrow, the first thing I’d do is put up a huge sign saying ‘Cleanest Bathrooms of Any Gas Station Anywhere’. Gas stations persist in displaying most prominently the price per gallon, down to the tenth of a cent, as though we even think that small. Gas is gas, and prices are fairly uniform, too. But clean bathrooms would draw female drivers, who make more use of facilities and so have more bitter complaints about horrible, filthy conditions.

“Why We Buy”

By Paco Underhill

If you want to see how the owners of businesses regard their customers, take a trip to the restrooms if you can find them! As mentioned, they are heated and air conditioned with polished concrete floors. They contain all the amenities, including baby changing stations. They are gender neutral, so that they are available to all at any time. There are no men’s urinals in either, only toilets. They are monitored each hour for cleanliness. We have found that men, especially older men, are very concerned about the location and accessibility to bathrooms. We want those customers to not feel constrained in any way when they are shopping.

Checklist for the bathrooms

A. Are the bathrooms clearly marked for our customers?

Yes, in many locations in the store. They are large signs and clear directions to get to them

If you want to run out your older male customers before that are done spending money at your store, make it difficult to find the bathroom! When they "gotta go", they need to find the facility fast. Here are two examples of bathroom signing. Which one could you find in an emergency?

B. Are there men's and women's bathrooms?

No, we have chosen unisex bathrooms for our customers. We have seen the line-up of women waiting to get into their marked facility and the other mens bathroom just empty. We don't want that at all at green garden gates

C. Is there a shower for spilled chemical emergencies?

Yes, we have installed a shower for those emergencies.

D. Are the bathrooms cleaned and maintained with assigned tasks?

Yes, There are assigned hourly duties to check on the bathrooms. We have contracted with a service company to clean the bathrooms each morning during the season

E. Are there modern paper towel holders and toilet shield holders?

Yes

F. Is there disinfectant soap available in all bathrooms?

Yes

G. Are there baby changing stations in the bathrooms?

Yes, each bathroom has a baby changing station

H. Are there adequate hooks for clothing?

Yes, there are a number of hooks available in each bathroom

I. Is there a table or shelf available for purses, etc?

Yes, each bathroom has a small table

J. Are the handles to the bathrooms able to open without hand touching?

Yes, we have found that women customers especially do not like to touch their hands on bathroom doorknobs. We have installed handles that only requires our customer to push the door open with the forearm.

K. Is there an emergency call button in the bathrooms?

Yes, we are aware that many gardening customers are elderly and may need some assistance while they are in the bathrooms. The notification goes to the main checkout counter where the call will be passed to the manager.

#V Tool Room

This open area is for the storage of tools and a workbench for the repair and maintenance of our equipment and facility.


#F Dry Goods Receiving

Most of the area is designed for receiving, processing and pricing of products that require a dry, clean area. Deliveries are made to the garage door #L and they can be palleted to anywhere in the store from this location. In the off season, equipment can be stored here and maintenance can be performed in this area.

#83 DESIGNING THE STORE * (revised 6/3) blockhouse wings floorplan

click on images to enlarge

The “Wings” of green garden gates are two buildings that are adjacent to the main blockhouse. They are lower roof structures than the blockhouse. They measure about twenty feet by about twenty-five feet. They have, as in all the structures high polished natural colored concrete floors. The roof is similar to the blockhouse, made of synthetic tile for less weight load than natural tile.

Wing #1

This is the checkout area of the store. It contains the main outdoor check stands and the stacking area for customers #H as they exit the business.

We have seen checkout areas cause terrible interference to the flow of commerce in a garden store. Rooms get so chucked full of people standing in line to be checked out that the entire room that is displaying merchandise is blocked off. We have seen lines of customers with crying kids standing in the cold and rain waiting to get undercover with their shopping carts to get checked out. We needed to find a balance between using valuable indoor space and keeping our customers comfortable. The checkouts continue in a line from the blockhouse indoor building. Checkers can easily move from the inside to the outside through an automatic door.

There are “presentation” doors that lead to the nursery of the store. #P is a solid garage door that is open all the time during the busy season and closed during the slow season or if there is bad weather. #Q is an automatic standard glass double door that is the primary point of exit and entry from the store.

#J are windows installed for the checkers to view the front of the building (and to keep them from going nuts in a closed boxed in work area!)

As the customers exit from the checkout stands, There is an additional automatic glass double set of doors.

Customers may also enter and exit the main blockhouse first floor though this area by double glass doors. (These doors are for the slower times at the store. We anticipate this door to be blocked by exiting customers at checkout at busy times. We have installed another set of double glass doors to enter and exit the blockhouse out of the firing line)

#J the front of the Wing #1 will be discussed later as part of a description of the entire front of these buildings.

Wing #2

This is primarily a utility area for the business. The features include:

B. Employees break room

Lots of break rooms for employees (if they even have one), look like something out of “Dickens”, some little corner stashed out of the way, where the employees can huddle. It is not a pleasant experience. We want our employees to enjoy the break. The room is located just off the blockhouse separated by a door to the retail building where the time clock is located.

The break room, adjacent locker room are the only parts of the wings that are heated and air conditioned, piped from the blockhouse. (the restrooms in Bookend #2 are also heated and air conditioned) They are equipped with all items necessary to prepare a meal; microwave, dinnerware and utensils, refrigerator, as well as shelving for personal food and items. The break room also houses the personal lockers for the employees with plenty of storage hooks for jackets, hats and boots.

Checklist for the Employee Lunch and Break Room

A. Is this room located near the activity of the store?

Yes, the employees have easy access to the break room. It is centrally located

B. Is it quiet, away from customers?

Yes, we believe that our employees need some “down time”, a quiet place away from customer activity.

C. Does the room have all the essential equipment for preparing something to eat?

Yes, it contains a sink, microwave, a refrigerator, and a complete set of kitchen utensils.

D. Are there comfortable chairs and tables for relaxation?

Yes, we have equipped the room with those items.

E. Is this room close to their personal lockers?

Yes, it is adjacent to the main bank of employee lockers?

F. Is there a convenient and weather protected smoking area for employees?

Yes, we have located an a convenient, covered area for those employees

Like it or not, some of the employees, some of the best, most valuable employees smoke. Get over it. A place needs to be found that is convenient, but out of the way, covered and pleasant for them. This acceptance of smoking may make the difference between keeping or losing very good people.

E. Enclosed vehicle parking stalls and receiving area

This area houses a stall for the company van. Because deliveries and pickups often occur during the season, we have found it valuable to have an enclosed area for bad weather. We want our company vehicle to be a reflection of our professional store. Housing it under cover helps maintain the appearance. The other stall is empty of a vehicle during the busy season and used for processing of dry goods received in the store. Water and electric are available to keep the vehicle clean. There are two sold panel garage doors that allow the vehicles to move in and out of the stalls

#K Shower Facility

There are times when emergencies occur in a garden store where a shower is needed; fertilizer burns, chemical spills etc. We have installed a shower for this reason. It is locked for security reasons at all times with the section leader having the key to the shower. It is equipped with hand want devices, clean towels, and disinfectant soaps and shampoos.

#82 DESIGNING THE STORE * (revised 6/3) the blockhouse wings

The blockhouse “wings” are transitional structures on each side of the main building. They are enclosed and of pole building construction with concrete floors and exposed rafters. Part of the wings are enclosed with manual garage doors that open when the store is in operation and secured at night. The roof is artificial faux tile to match the blockhouse, with similar colors. It is sloped hard for the ease of snow removal in colder climates.

Although, there is no heat or air conditioning in these structures, a series of “swamp fans”, running water past the moving blades, cools these buildings and the customers. The lighting is by incandescent florescent bulbs. Of course, as in all green garden gates, the style of the wings will change to match the communities and geographical region.

There are a variety of uses, discussed in the floor plan, #84

#81 DESIGNING THE STORE * (revised 6/3) check out area

(click on the drawing to enlarge)

So often, owners of garden stores set up the checkout areas with very little thought. In fact, the least attention in the entire design of the buildings is given to the checkouts, customer flow during the peak season, parking and the overall accessibility to the business. These factors will eventually determine greatly whether the business grows or just will flat line in the years to come. Checkout areas, one of those "pinch points", will determine whether you are a good garden store or a great garden store.

We have studied the checkout areas in a number of stores, both large and small, processing a variety of products. We have paid particular attention to the large garden stores in the United States. We have imitated the best features in our design for the company.

Establishing an indoor/outdoor checkout station, our own concept just makes a lot of sense for efficiency and economy. There are a lot of slow days in the gardening season, rainy, cold weather that leaves the outdoor checkers just standing there shivering, all because the company wants that area manned. In other locations, the checkout is left abandoned looking like a beached whale with the few shoppers who have braved the weather left wondering where to buy their stuff. Tacky.

Also, As spring turns into summer and there is no need for the numbers of checkout stations at the garden shop, the pattern of most owners is to just leave the checkout sitting there, again, gathering dust. Think about it, the most highly exposed, visible display location in the entire garden store is occupied by a bunch of counters piled up with just junk and a cash register with a cover over it! Our slower season design for the unused checkout #L turns that area into an extremely valuable display space. #18 are a series of portable panels that are placed as a backdrop and display while still utilizing the counters for display. The cash registers, electronic equipment and all other checkout materials are stored inside the #18 as they surround the space.

The design calls for a total of four checkout "kiosks". #A and #K are permanent cash registers checkouts throughout the season. Kiosk #L is utilized as the season gets busier and then as a display unit later. Kiosk #L1 is a portable removable unit that is used only in the very high peak season weeks of the store, then removed and stored. There can be a total of eight cash registers (indicated by the colored squares on the plan) at full tilt gardening season. All the kiosks are wrapped with removable slot board panels that feature popular impulse items for gardeners.

Although our check out employees are trained to answer a number of “customer service” questions, the most experienced employees manning in kiosk K double as “informational” persons manning our information counter using areas #4 and #5 for brief consultations (with a supplemental information station at the outdoor nursery office). In the indoor checkout #A, the “information” station is at #11 and #12. The employees at Kiosk K continue to check out customers as well as manning the information counters until nearly the end of season.

Kiosk #K is not only an information area. It is also a plant "pharmacy" for problems and solutions. Wall #20 is shelved, holding chemicals and fertilizers most often recommended by our store, with easy access by these information employees. All resource materials, an Internet connected computer and printer, and store handouts are at their disposal in this area to consult with gardeners.

In this scenario, we can envision, during off peak season, a minimum of one and a maximum of 2 employees responsible for checkout and information, cutting employee labor 50% over traditional garden stores. Following the season closure, all checkout and information counter equipment and resources are removed and stored.

We want our checkers to mostly process the material "cart to cart", moving the customer purchases from their transit cart to a new cart as he or she processes the material. The colored hatched areas are for empty carts waiting for this processing.

Impulse sales are important to the business. There are numerous panels, #18, that both shield the cash registers and display often popular products for gardening.

These areas are for checkout and exiting the store. Customers flow in one direction only. The width between the checkout stations is sufficient to allow two rows of customers with their goods and a center aisle for transit.

There are breaks in the counter checkout kiosks to allow employees to easily move out to the floor is necessary to help customers in their immediate area.

Most checkout stations in garden shops, as viewed by the customers who wait to complete their transactions, are a mess. They see exposed shelves below the counter with just crap that has been left there over weeks and months. Some have covered these exposed shelves with cheap fabric stapled to the wood and that is really awful looking. We have chosen to keep most of the shelves exposed but we insist that the storage is orderly and appealing at all times. It is not offensive to show production materials at the checkouts. It is offensive if these materials are a train wreck. Additionally, all the counters are to be uncluttered like the bartender presents his bar; clean, uniform, unobstructed.

Each employee in the checkout stations stands on heavy duty rubber mats, which are the finest mat available to ease the physical problems of continuous standing on concrete.The corners of the checkout counters are rounded to prevent injury to employees and customers.

There is a locked cabinet under each checkout station for the employee to store personal items, purses, phones, etc during his or her shift.

Many garden store owners and managers insist that the checkout employees stand at their registers for the entire shift. This practice, in our view, is downright brutal. Try it sometime for an entire shift! They also expect that the employees in this area do little or nothing but handle transactions. Get on one of those registers on a cold slow day and try not to go insane just doing nothing but waiting! That is one of the reasons for high turnovers of checkout employees. They go mad! We have attempted to ease these issues in several ways. First, small bar stool chairs are available to the checkers during slow time and they are encouraged to use them. Second, we have given the checkout employees other tasks to perform; laminating signs, making tags, producing new handout brochures etc. We want our employees in these stations to feel productive in their workday, even the slow days when the place is deserted.

The checkout stations in garden stores or any retail store are the first impression a customer has of the professional look of a business. Those checkout employees are the ambassadors of the store, the first faces of the business. We make every effort to keep all our employees motivated and enthusiastic about green garden gates.

#80 DESIGNING THE STORE * (revised 6/3) blockhouse first floor retail

Sarah Lindsey-Banks had to fight them all.

“Every town, every store, one by one, she sat with the owners of those Harley stores and stared them down. After all, this was a biker place, where men were men and tough shit if you didn’t like it. This was a place for grease and gears and shots and beers, where the only background music was tearing off the muffler and opening up the throttle. The idea of a little silver rack of cute womens' bandannas sitting next to the hogs was a sacrilege, an outrage that made those owners mad as hell. Every so slowly, the owners watched the ladies arrive and the cash registers ring and the battle was won.

So this idea convincing the others to mix a fine painting and an antique desk near the fruit trees was a walk in the park. She knew what those gardeners would buy and she knew where in green garden gates they would find it”

The retail garden shop is the only tempered part of the buildings at green garden gates. It is fully enclosed, insulated, heated and air conditioned.

This area has a number of functions. It houses restrooms, a small retail office, work areas for performing needs in the complex, an indoor checkout area in days of unfavorable weather, and the heating and HVAC, electronic panels. It is the display area for products that require a clean environment away from the outdoor elements.

We believe, as we have expressed many times, that gardening is an adventure. Following our concept, this indoor area, this gift arena on the first floor of the blockhouse, is to be a gardening adventure store. We like high quality museum stores where products related to their collections are available to customers.

The interior is a simple design, with emphasis on fixtures that are practical but classical in look. This indoor area presents gardening beyond just the plants and plant care products. We offer for sale stationary and books, paintings and lithographs, gift packs of high end gardening tools, wall hangings, cups and mugs, wrapping papers, all with the theme of gardening.

Dirt and water and stains will kill the sales of these beautiful gardening products. If you want to sell quality and beauty, you have to have a place to display quality and beauty. No woman who drives up in a Range Rover is going to open her purse for a dog eared dusty birthday card.

The floor is unstained concrete that has been machined toweled to a polished high finish. Area rugs are positioned according to displays. The lighting is classic and simple

Some garden stores owners listened to their architects and stamp their concrete floors with raised designs. You know, the temple look. Ever tried to clean that rough surface or watched a lady with high heals gingerly walk over that rough rustic floor?

Some owners paint the concrete and paint and paint, over and over again each year because it chips and peels no matter what the paint guy will tell you. Some mix a stain in the concrete only to regret that colored floor when a new color for the store is needed. LEAVE IT NATURAL! You can accent other ways.

The walls and ceiling are sheetrock, taped and textured.

The sixties are gone. Forget the old barn wood. Use that stuff for accents, but don't wall up the place with dark old wood. This is a modern retail store, not a dungeon.

The windows, which do not open, are large to give the customer full view of the activity in the rest of the complex. There are two sets of automatic sliding doors, one set for customer use and one single door for use by employees manning the indoor/outdoor checkout station.

Automatic doors are expensive, but they are well worth the cost. You won't regret them ever. Get a couple of employess to learn all about how to maintain them and stop calling the door guy and paying out money

A. The indoor checkout area

The main counter is positioned directly adjacent to the main doors of the area. The back counters are used primarily for display of frequently requested items. All the exposed counters are rounded so that employees and customers do not get bruised hitting sharp corners. A sliding door opens automatically enabling the check out employee to move back and forth to the outside checkouts saving labor that normally would require two check-out employees during slow times. Other counters are used to laminate signs or produce descriptive tags. We see that a number of functions can be performed in this check out area.

B. The customer corridor

This area is kept open and unencumbered for customers as they enter and exit the retail store.

C. The seasonal display area

This square footage has been designated for seasonal display of giftware and other products.

D. Gardening product categories area

Most garden stores just line up their products on long rows of shelving. All the product categories run into each other. We have designed certain categories and have separate shelving for them: bird feeding supplies, pruning and grafting, seed starting, etc. Large signing above immediately directs our customers to those specific product areas. Most of the display counters are on rollers and can be easily re-configured for changes in design.

E. Manager’s Day Office

The manager has this small office to conduct daily business on the floor. It is enclosed and has glass windows to view the activity. Two floor safes as wells as a "gun safe" for till storage are near this office.

F. Staircase and exit doors

This is the staircase and landing leading to the second floor manager’s residence. A door accesses to the storage and receiving area.

G. Electrical closet

This area contains heating and cooling equipment as well as a hot water heater, telephone, cable, Internet and electrical panels for the store.

H/I. Restrooms

The restrooms are unisex facilities with no designated gender. We know that women’s bathrooms are more congested than men’s facilities.

We want to make both restrooms available to the genders. The are simple in design with utility and durability in mind

J. Access door to receiving and employee lounge area

Employees access through this door to clock in and out for their workday. That equipment is located on the wall of Section I.

K. Outdoor Checkout Station

This is one of two stations. A description of all the checkout stations will be discussed later.

#79 DESIGNING THE STORE * (revised 1/25) the second floor residence"

“Joseph D’Amato and his wife, Katherine, eventually bought a nearby building, set up shop, and moved into an apartment upstairs, following a tradition of “living over the store” that dates back hundreds of years, when work was life, and took most of the shopkeeper’s waking hours.

Sandy, their daughter, who was born over the store, began helping out at the age of five years with her father Sam and her grandfather, Joseph. ‘I spent many of my younger days working at the store,’ she fondly recalled. ‘After school, I would take the bus from school and arrive at the store around four P.M., which gave me enough time to eat dinner at four-thirty at my grandparents next door and then help my dad through the five-thirty to six-thirty rush, before the store closed at seven. If I was tired, I’d sleep on top of the beer cases”

From The Mom and Pop Store

By Robert Spector

The second floor of the “blockhouse” is the residence for our new Oklahoma manager, Dana Scofield. This will be home for three years for Dana and her young son, Nathan. We want to make these residences comfortable for all our managers at green garden gates.


The flooring is a combination of carpet and tile. We want the flexibility to change out most of the flooring on a regular basis. The walls are sheet rock, textured and painted a neutral light color. Dana has the option to paint and re-decorate as she sees fit. The cost of paint and labor is her responsibility. The ceiling is also sheet rock with a light texture.

We have no standard florescent tube lighting in the residence, except in the kitchen. All the bulbs are energy saving florescent bulbs. Heat and air conditioning is piped into the residence from the store gas HVAC unit below. There is a separate gas and electric metering system for the residence and the managers are responsible for these utilities. The windows in the residence all open to take advantage of differing weather conditions.





The residence is equipped with computer equipment that is tied to the mainframe of the business operations and the security cameras positioned around the site. The office is furnished with the manager needs; copier, fax, scanner and printer and office supplies. We expect that major administrative work is done by the manager in the residence.

There is the ability for the manager to electronically open the main gates from the residence. The windows and security cameras provide full visibility to the gates and other special security spots at all times. A land line telephone is also installed in the residence. There is an alarm system in the residence for intruders as well as fire and toxic smoke issues. There are speakers built into each room of the house connected to a provided sound system and flat screen television.

The manager may elect to bring her furnishing to the residence. In this case, all unneeded furniture and fixtures will be placed into storage and used for the residence of the next green garden gates.



A. The main bedroom

B. The bath and shower area

C. The second bedroom

D. An office area for the manager

E Kitchen, which also houses the washer and dryer unit. There is a table in this area that is used for the manager as well as a place for meetings on store business.

F. Hall

G. Living room

H. Record Storage. This area is primarily for the storage of records for the store

I. Covered Deck and railing, running the full length of the building side which is accessed from two sets of French doors in the living room. The eves of the roof overhand to cover this area.

J. Stairway leading to the main floor. The manager can access the first floor retail area as well as access directly into her vehicle storage area

#78 DESIGNING THE STORE * (revised 6/3) regional concepts of blockhouses

As the process begins for designing the “local flavor” of a green garden gates in a community and region, an artist will be hired from the area who has a history of the community and can best depict our business through the architecture of the structures, in order to be readily accepted into by the residents.

The Southwest design of the blockhouse will be used for this region. The colors will be in shades of browns and reds and tans. The exterior walls will be stucco. The lower entrance and the front design will have arched features. Window boxes will be installed on the second floor with flowers that compliment the building. The roof will be faux tile. The corners of the building will be rounded rather than angular in the fashion of a southwest structure.

The New England design, by contrast, will have bright colors that reflect the seashore and stand out against cloudy and cold days of the New England coastline. The windows will be paned with mullions. The awnings are rounded and arched. There are shutters on each window. Window boxes with flowers typical of New England gardens will be on both stories of the blockhouse. The roof will be dark composition shingles.

It is a simple design, with very few elements that require custom expensive work from the builders. Nearly all of the features can be purchased "off the shelf" or found as recycled materials. The design can also changed and updated in the future. The structure can be for a variety of uses for good re-sale value, if that ever is needed.