Aside from compliance with the law, just how much additional responsibility does a business owner have to his or her customer base, employees, suppliers, and the community at large? How do you feel about the old saying, “buyer beware”?

Rick and Gloria Ash started a new business in 1986 on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. Their original retail store with greenhouse attachment featured fresh-cut flowers, annuals, vegetables, and perennials. The building is on the grounds of Gloria’s family farm, which enables the Ashes to grow some of their retail products from scratch. Gloria’s parents gave the couple several acres of commercially zoned land as a wedding gift in 1982. The building and greenhouse construction were completed by Rick with a little help from his brothers. This combination of land acquisition and building construction resulted in a very low overhead situation that contributed to their start-up success.
An addition to the building was completed in 1991 and included several new and related product lines such as garden tools, soil and mulch products, gifts, seeds, and related accessories.
Gloria earned a horticulture degree at the local community college prior to the establishment of the business, and in 1997 she was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of starting a landscape design and installation service that became the company’s next and newest product line.
Gloria set up a small studio and office in the couple’s nearby home and was able to acquire some new clients.
Her timing was good, as the Columbus area experienced a housing boom during that period. New houses and new developments sprang up in every direction from the city.
Their garden center was able to supply the plant materials that each new job required. Soon after, the Ashes expanded their product lines to include a new and wider variety of trees, shrubs, landscape terraces, patios, and walkways as a means to generate new sales and to complement Gloria’s new service line.