Garden Center Owners Receive South Dakota Retailer of the Year
At the South Dakota Retailers Association’s (SDRA) annual Awards Banquet in Pierre last week, Carol and Randy Hallock of Rockingtree Floral and Garden Center in Sturgis were honored by state legislators, constitutional officers, and retailers from throughout the state as the 2014 South Dakota Retailer of the Year Award, reports Rapid City Journal.
Recognized for their outstanding community service and top-notch customer service, the Hallocks were chosen for the award by a committee of retailers. Serving customers in a five-state area, the business begin in landscaping in 1976 and in 1993, Tom and Carol purchased the lot for their current location.
In congratulating the Hallocks, outgoing SDRA Board President James Siemens of Hy-Vee in Sioux Falls, “They started a program which provides a way for people to donate and purchase used Christmas decorations, with the money going to local programs including the women’s shelter, the library, and the senior center. They volunteer for Meals on Wheels, and provide a Christmas package to Meals on Wheels recipients. Working with a local bank and radio station, every year on Good Neighbor Day they give away thousands of flowers to people who in turn share them with other people. They provide educational seminars, host tours, and help groups such as 4-H raise money by doing demonstrations. Carol works with the Northern Hills Drug Court, helping with their graduation ceremonies, and has hired some of the graduates. She also serves on the Board of the Serenity Building in Sturgis. When they heard that a shelter and food distribution center was being constructed on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Carol sent their plumbing crew to do the plumbing at no charge. And those are just a few examples of the many ways they serve their community.”
Siemens added, “As an example: many of the customers who orders flowers to be placed at the Black Hills National Cemetery live outside this area. So when they place the flowers at a marker, they take pictures which are then given to the customer. When they opened the business, they started a custom of giving balloons to little kids,” he remarked. “At the time, they jokingly said they were marketing to their future customers. But guess what. Twenty years later, the little kids who first started receiving those balloons are all grown up and they ARE customers.
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