Michigan Tech student starts garden center business

Two adjunct teaching positions, earning a master’s degree and running her own small business? That’s Michigan Tech and Finlandia instructor Amber Campbell’s life, and it looks like it will only get busier with the recent success of her G&A Farmers’ Market and Garden Center in Houghton.

She saw the need for the specialty greenhouse as commercial stores in the Houghton and Hancock area generally sell just the most common seeds and plants available to gardeners. Campbell is pursuing an MBA degree from Michigan Tech and saw it as a business opportunity that fit right into her love of gardening.

With help from Michigan Tech’s Small Business and Technology Development Center and the MTEC SmartZone’s Entrepreneur Support Center, Campbell began developing an LLC and plan for marketing her products, which culminated in the market and garden center’s opening this spring on Sharon Avenue in Houghton. She sells a wide variety of hand-grown plants like bedding plants, flowers, herbs and vegetables, and later in the season, plans to sell produce from a fruit and vegetable stand.

She was inspired by her upbringing in China, where her family always grew their own fruits and vegetables.

“I remember how fresh and good they were. I am bringing my own good memories to life here,” she says. “I like fresh produce and healthy food, and I have always liked growing things.”

With a business plan and some advice from other student entrepreneurs, Campbell made it to the second round of the statewide New Venture Competition, which helped polish her plan. Now, with the garden up and running, she is looking to the future, which she hopes will include a year-round building from which to sell produce.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Amber Campbell, Michigan Technological University