Store name: Hicks Nurseries
Number of stores: 1
Specialty: lawn and garden
Location: Westbury, NY
Established in 1853
Using CounterPoint since 1998

Founded in 1853, Westbury, New York-based Hicks Nurseries is a family-owned garden center that has deep roots in the lawn and garden industry. Currently managed by the sixth generation of family members, Hicks has also seen several generations of cash registers and business systems. Continually updating and modernizing the operation has always been a part of the success of Hicks Nurseries.

In 1998, Hicks purchased CounterPoint. President Stephen Hicks recognizes the speed of checkout as a primary reason they chose CounterPoint. “We are sort of a strange animal in that we need to have the efficiencies of a supermarket in the month of May,” says Stephen. “With CounterPoint, we can really move people through the line.”

By way of confirmation, the garden center records more than 2,500 transactions on a busy Spring day. And the addition of CPGateway has “greatly improved our credit card authorization process,” adds Stephen. CPGateway authorizes credit cards over the Internet in under two seconds. “CPGateway is the single biggest improvement to CounterPoint since our installation in April of 1998. I sleep much better at night knowing that Synchronics is behind the service.”

Another favorite feature is the Offline Ticket Entry Option. Cashiers can continue ringing up sales when the CounterPoint server is down or unavailable (it’s also useful for sidewalk sales, trade shows, and portable kiosks).

Stephen adds, “We’ve had better morale with our cashiers than ever before because of the system. It’s a very flexible system and it has many capabilities that allow you to configure it—almost tailor-make it—to your business.”

Hicks has seen tangible business success thanks to CounterPoint. At Christmas time, the nursery sells cut trees. By analyzing their sales and inventory information each day and comparing this year’s numbers to last year’s, they’ve been able to time their reorders so that they’re bringing in the right quantity at the right time. They get extra sales by having enough inventory to last through the season, and extra profits by not having leftover inventory.

Hicks Nurseries turned over a new leaf with CounterPoint. And since then they’ve watched their profits grow (and their long checkout lines shrink).