Hillcrest Garden: A Family Arrangement

Many men may just be beginning to think about buying their sweethearts flowers for Valentine's Day. Eric Levy's task carries even more pressure: The Paramus wholesale storeowner has to worry about supplying those flowers to shops throughout the region.

Levy is a third-generation operator of Hillcrest Garden Inc., currently located on West Century Road in Paramus. The floral wholesaler traces its roots to Levy's grandfather, also named Eric, who began selling flowers off of trucks in the 1930s. Today, Hillcrest occupies a 50,000-square-foot building that supplies florists within 75 miles of Bergen County.

"Luckily, in this market, there's just so many outlets to sell to," said Levy, a Wyckoff resident.

Right now, those florists are interested in roses, the classic Valentine's Day staple. Levy explains that growers can barely keep up with demand over the holiday, leading to the price markups most will see within the next two weeks. Plus, roses and other flowers have such a short shelf life that florists usually mark their offerings up even higher to account for the flowers they'll throw out at week's end.

But, even if it costs Hillcrest more than usual to supply its customers, the holiday is essential to the wholesaler's bottom line.

"It's an exciting holiday to be a part of. In the floral business, you have to make money [on Valentine's Day] to sort of carry you the rest of the year. If you screw it up, you have a terrible year," Levy said.

Figuring out how much to order isn't exactly an exact science, either. Despite years in the business, he said wholesalers and florists are just guessing at demand.

"It's all a gut feeling," said Levy, a member of Wyckoff Reformed Church.

Flowers are such a ubiquitous feature of so many social functions, from weddings to funerals, that Hillcrest can count itself relatively lucky when a downturn ripples through the economy. Levy said the operation never had been affected by prior recessions and only experienced an approximate 3 percent drop during the slowdown of the past year or so.

"I think it proves flowers are a bit resistant to industry downturns," he said.

Family business

Levy, a Wyckoff resident since 1994, grew up in the family business, which was located in Park Ridge until the 1970s. He started working with his father as a teenager, making deliveries, and currently serves as president, while his brother, Larry, is Hillcrest's chief buyer.

"He's really the heart of the company... Larry is diligent about making sure we're charging the right price for everything."

Additionally, past president Leonard Levy, Eric and Larry's father, expanded the business more than three decades ago and still works at Hillcrest, with Eric joking that semiretirement means a 40-hour workweek.

The Levys currently employ approximately 50 people at its Century Road location, which features an 8,000-square-foot refrigerator to house floral deliveries from around the world. Hillcrest deals directly with growers everywhere, from Europe to South America. 

Eric Levy said flowers can be picked in South America, sent to Miami and trucked to Hillcrest, all within four to five days. "People are getting really fresh product," he said.

The Levys have been in operation long enough to see the floral business change. The president said Hillcrest and other wholesalers are increasingly dealing with developing nations, which often turn to agriculture to enter the global marketplace. Along the way, many of the small farms and greenhouses in the Garden State have disappeared, leaving Hillcrest increasingly reliant on different regions and countries.

"All those farms have gone away and are not coming back," he said.

Additionally, the few who remain don't have enough variety or sufficient stock to satisfy consumers' needs.

"You wouldn't be able to get enough product" if wholesalers were relying on flowers grown in the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, Levy said.

Hillcrest could experience some changes in the future, too. It's not very likely that the Levys will continue to run the operation started in the shadow of the Great Depression beyond the current generation.

"I don't think any of the kids are interested" in going into the business, Levy said. "But that's OK. We got to three generations. You can't ask for much more than that."