AusBonsai

To those in South Sydney and the Sutherland Shire, it probably is not new news for you, but to myself I was only made aware of this terrible news after speaking to the owner Leon yesterday. Bonsai South is a wonderful source of stock, but is winding up its business, 'over the next 5 years' he said, so they will still be around for number of years, but he will be selling the business or closing down within the next 5 years.

This is a terrible loss for the art of bonsai and I wish that those who feel that supporting their local bonsai nurseries is someone elses agenda, then think again. The more bonsai nurseries that close down, the less people will get interested in picking up the hobby. Obviously having more nurseries around increases the chances of people being given a bonsai for a birthday / xmas gift etc, which in turn creates new hobbyists and so on and so on. I would rather pay and support bonsai nurseries than import anything from overseas. Buy local and support your local. This is unfortunately ever so important for bonsai nurseries as they are such a rare business that when they start closing up shop, it is all of us that eventually lose.

I think it was Shibui who said it best when in a previous post he questioned why others aren't supporting their local nurseries more, and unfortunately this is coming full circle.
Imagine if you had to drive 500km or so to get to your nearest bonsai nursery.... you'd understand how many users on this forum feel every day in remote areas.

And to those critics who say, its survival of the fittest, then please... think about the milk pricing and wesfarmers' coles and woolworths' actions. If you support their cheap milk, eventually you will wipe out the dairy farmers, and in turn give it 20 years or so, you'll be paying $10 for a litre of milk. You will also lose the high quality and integrity of rural methods.
This same method will be applied to our vital bonsai nurseries, where you may just find that your only option for materials or bonsai stock will be from another state or another country.

The true Australian tradition is to buy local, and a lot of young people these days do not understand the paramount significance of this, and the devastating impact it has on our community.

In a discusion with Ray N last week, this topic came upp but more slanted to Leon being disollusioned.

Will be a sad day when it happens and for those in the southern suburbs will be a great loss.
Ray has clinton to take over after he retires ( LOL), so hopefully we will be fine in the north west. Does Leon have family that woudl take over?

Ken

Did you ask him why he was closing down? There could be a number of underlying reasons for this.

Maybe he is just scaling down or perusing other pleasures in the balance mix of life.

Why don't people support their local bonsai you ask?

The answer is many of us do or would like to support them more and often times these nurseries are a fair distance away so
for me, I get stock from everywhere in drips and drabs (i think it enriches the experience) whether it's a local one or a good drive away.

Like I mentioned on another post, for a bonsai nursery to compete, survive and thrive it must evolve. It must incorporate the factors of fun, uniqueness and offer an interesting experience to visitors.

2 biggest factors.

1. it must be able to market itself well to reach a wider mass of audience and better communicate with it's customers

2. it must have constantly evolving stock moving in and out

kcpoole wrote:In a discusion with Ray N last week, this topic came upp but more slanted to Leon being disollusioned.

Will be a sad day when it happens and for those in the southern suburbs will be a great loss.
Ray has clinton to take over after he retires ( LOL), so hopefully we will be fine in the north west. Does Leon have family that woudl take over?

Ken

I spoke to Leon, and he advised that his children all have good jobs, but more so, they see the hours that you have to put in to grow a business, and that put them off.
It takes a special individual to pursue such a business as bonsai.

The main reason is Leon is getting quite old, same I guess as Ray. Ray does have Clinton to take on his business yes, so that is a much needed hand too.
Leon says its financially rewarding, but he is too old for it now. There comes a time when you want to enjoy your retirement, and I can totally understand how making a living off your hobby can be difficult. He says for some reason he still gets new customers that have only just become aware of their nursery and don't venture beyond their traditional outings. I was unfortunately guilty of this too, having only just been to Bonsai South in recent years. I used to try and get to the Koreshoff nursery when they were open so long ago, but their sales area was very, very limited unfortunately. It was more of an amazement to see their personal collection.... astounding really.

The best nursery in Sydney. Always quality stock with a super nice Owner. He will be missed but who can blame him? It is his time now and with his talent I am sure he will find a way to channel it to all of us. Good luck Leong.

Inspired wrote:Did you ask him why he was closing down? There could be a number of underlying reasons for this.

Maybe he is just scaling down or perusing other pleasures in the balance mix of life.

Why don't people support their local bonsai you ask?

The answer is many of us do or would like to support them more and often times these nurseries are a fair distance away so
for me, I get stock from everywhere in drips and drabs (i think it enriches the experience) whether it's a local one or a good drive away.

Like I mentioned on another post, for a bonsai nursery to compete, survive and thrive it must evolve. It must incorporate the factors of fun, uniqueness and offer an interesting experience to visitors.

2 biggest factors.

1. it must be able to market itself well to reach a wider mass of audience and better communicate with it's customers

2. it must have constantly evolving stock moving in and out

He needed and needs more customers, and more people to venture beyond just '1' nursery. If customers would support their local bonsai nurseries, he'd be able to hire more hands. simple. It isnt about evolving, I completely disagree with this, in a nice manner, I'm just saying, people have to all come together and support bonsai nurseries, ALL bonsai nurseries, because there is always stock you can make something out of from all nurseries.

Bonsai shops should just be thankful that its hard to get trees into Oz otherwise everyone would just be buying them from China and they'd all go broke, saving a few dollars is way more important to most people than supporting local business.

bonsaibuddyman wrote:It isnt about evolving, I completely disagree with this

Wise man say "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result"

Whether you like it or not, agree or not, EVERY being, EVERY organism, EVERY system, EVERY process EVERYTHING man-made must evolve and those that don't get left behind in non-existence..

So let me ask, why is it that you think he is not getting enough customers?

bonsaibuddyman wrote:more people to venture beyond just '1' nursery. If customers would support their local bonsai

How do I support my local bonsai nursery if you encourage me to go to others

bonsaibuddyman wrote:He needed and needs more customers

And how do you propose he do that?

bonsaibuddyman wrote:people have to all come together and support bonsai nurseries, ALL bonsai nurseries

I am sure ALL bonsai enthusiasts would at some point along their bonsai journey support various Bonsai Nurseries.

The key question is.. Of an enthusiast total spend on bonsai and the related, how much "share" a nursery can capture really comes down to how well they are able to market, manage and diversify their business.. if that is not part of evolution I am not sure what is



The only way I learn is to ask.. the only way i can evolve is to have my questions and answers challenged in new light.

Friendly only and peace out

there's no point worrying about the inevitable---buy from Leon until he closes, then buy from someone else

*Leong.

Inspired wrote:

bonsaibuddyman wrote:It isnt about evolving, I completely disagree with this

Wise man say "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result"

Whether you like it or not, agree or not, EVERY being, EVERY organism, EVERY system, EVERY process EVERYTHING man-made must evolve and those that don't get left behind in non-existence..

So let me ask, why is it that you think he is not getting enough customers?

You live in Victoria, and I'm guessing you haven't been to Bonsai South, so it is fair to say that you probably don't know their shop nor their stock, which is excellent on both counts.
Evolution is something that ... literally .... means you can see a change or something has evolved, by looking at the past and comparing it to its present form. It is incorrect to say that all beings, all organisms evolve, because evolution just means if a genetic anomaly or mutation is genetically superior, then if that individual reproduces its genetic code potentially will have a stronger chance of surviving than its parent. However, if the mutation isn't superior in 'survival of the fittest' sense, then it doesn't live on.
Humans have now reached a point where we can control and manipulate the environment we live in, and even our own code. We have the potential to halt evolution for mankind through nanobot technology. My father is a paleontologist, so I receive quite an exposure to such interesting discussions as this.


After speaking to Leong, if he had more customers, he'd be able to hire more hands and keep the nursery instead of selling or closing. That was pretty straight forward I thought.

Inspired wrote:

bonsaibuddyman wrote:more people to venture beyond just '1' nursery. If customers would support their local bonsai

How do I support my local bonsai nursery if you encourage me to go to others

That is being pedantic. I said support all bonsai nurseries, so that they all thrive.

Inspired wrote:

bonsaibuddyman wrote:He needed and needs more customers

And how do you propose he do that?

I already said this on my post.

Inspired wrote:

bonsaibuddyman wrote:people have to all come together and support bonsai nurseries, ALL bonsai nurseries

I am sure ALL bonsai enthusiasts would at some point along their bonsai journey support various Bonsai Nurseries.

Okay, now I am going to join the pedantic wagon. Now you are contradicting your point about only supporting your 1 bonsai nursery.

Inspired wrote: The key question is.. Of an enthusiast total spend on bonsai and the related, how much "share" a nursery can capture really comes down to how well they are able to market, manage and diversify their business.. if that is not part of evolution I am not sure what is

This is my whole point which you may be missing. So many people just visit the same old nursery out of habit, because whether you advertise or not, once you are aware of a nursery, then advertising is kind of useless. Whether I see advertising from one or the other, I still know about both, and will still visit both to get stock. Once you are aware of all the bonsai nurseries in your area, you don't look at advertising, you know where the nurseries are now.

There is a saying 'buy australian made'. There is also a term 'fair trade'. I am not being funny, but you may not realize the inherent meaning of these. To pay more and support business for a moral or justifiable reason is what I am talking about. Too many people think the same way as what you are saying, which has the potential to lead to farmers committing suicide, small business owners end up closing down, foreign imports skyrocket, and the Australian economy weakens as we rely on foreign imports and conglomerate businesses. The term 'fair trade' is about supporting business that doesn't cripple the country like other business which takes advantage of them, and although it does not apply in this sense, it has the same ideology, in that you are choosing to spend and support a certain sector, whether that be by paying more, or supporting other nurseries in your area for a moralistic reason.

Anyway, I do understand what you are saying, but with bonsai nurseries I feel they are a different kettle of fish. You can buy your meat from coles or woolies, and its probably cheaper, but buying from a butcher will usually get you better prepared meat, and support local business, jobs, and the community. Each of us has the potential to vote with our wallets, but some vote with a price or by ease, which is unfortunate, but not always the case, as you look at places where for instance, the community has banded together and stopped Macdonalds from coming in, and the sense of community there is and you would start to see a better idea of what I am talking about. Clearly we just have to agree to disagree

Andrew F wrote:*Leong.

Hmmm
Quite the debate happening
I like looking at exciting bonsai trees personally
Maybe someone has a picture of a nice tree purchased from Bonsai South they could share?

Google is your friend Trident.

those that seek, they shall find

Lets not beat off the track here like most of the stuff you wrote. Back to what I originally said here to which you answered:

bonsaibuddyman wrote:It isnt about evolving, I completely disagree with this

Buddyman, A bonsai nursery is a business. And like every other business it must evolve if it is to compete, survive and thrive.

The rest of the stuff you wrote whilst I understand the notion, in this context is irrelevant and hence its application. You've even said it yourself

bonsaibuddyman wrote:although it does not apply in this sense

so lets stick to the tracks shall we?