The End of an Era at 2nd St
Whether it is in a gardening segment on KTTC, hearing him on his KROC gardening show for decades, or seeing him as a constant presence at Sargent’s on 2nd since it’s beginning, many of you know Scott Moon. The end of 2022 brings a momentous change to the Sargent’s team, and family, as Scott “retires” from being the manager of Sargent’s on 2nd and moves into a new role with Sargent’s. With Scott’s lifetime of experience in every facet of horticulture, we welcome him to our garden services and landscape sales department beginning in 2023.
Scott began his career at Sargent’s while in college at the U of MN’s Horticulture Department. In the beginning, he worked in our landscape department, first in a crew member role and later in landscape design and sales. When Sargent’s acquired Jim’s Ranch Market on 2nd St SW in Rochester in 1984 it was decided that Scott was a good fit to be manager. One of my first memories with Scott is going to Milwaukee, WI to tour garden centers there to get ideas for our new store. We jumped in head first and created a garden center from scratch. At this time I was in middle school and high school, and Scott and his wife Wendy became close friends of the family. In fact, I remember several times when my parents left town and I was sent to stay with them. All through the years my family and “Scott and Wendy” took many trips together whether to northern MN or skiing in Montana. Throughout my career, Scott and I have been travel partners dozens of times as we do the buying show circuit every fall to multiple vendor shows in places like Las Vegas, Denver, and Cleveland to name a few. All of this does not even scratch the surface of what Scott has meant to the Sargent family. Scott and Wendy are truly family.
Scott has managed the 2nd st store with care, responsibility, and a no-nonsense management style that I have always appreciated. Another memory I have is when I was working at 2nd street during the spring while in high school. I came up to Scott, not giving nearly enough notice, and asked for Memorial Day Weekend off for some reason. The answer was no and I was quite bewildered at the time. However, to this day I appreciate that he taught me, with that one reply, that your obligation to work and to your teammates at work is a true responsibility not to be taken lightly.
Scott has gone on to see the 2nd st store through several complete remodels and re-inventions. With each remodel we have done extensive tours around the country and worked with consultants, architects, and contractors to see our vision through to completion. Scott always worked extremely well with my father, Forrest, as well as myself and we would think and plan for months and years through each remodel.
After deciding that 37 years was enough of the “retail grind” of evenings, weekends, and always being where the buck stops, we are thrilled that he decided to stay at Sargent’s and move into a new role that we are confident he will excel at.
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