Who We Are: Store Supervisors Carlos Garcia and Hector Mercado

With five locations spread across central and southern California, our Fruit Growers supply centers are fully stocked with all the irrigation parts, fertilizers, power tools, and ag supplies to keep our customers’ operations running.

Who keeps those supply centers running, though? That would be store supervisors like Hector Mercado, who previously worked at the Carton manufacturing plant and has spent 24 total years with the company, and Carlos Garcia, who celebrates his fourth year with Fruit Growers this summer. Together, they bring more than a quarter century of experience to the job, making them the perfect people to highlight in our newest installment of “Who We Are.”

There are multiple Fruit Growers stores in California. What makes your store unique?

Hector Mercado (Riverside location): We cater to more of the growers, and our customers feel like our friends. They’ll come into the store, buy whatever they need, and tell us about their latest projects. They’ll talk about whatever’s been keeping them busy. It feels more like a friendship and less like a business interaction when we get to catch up like that. It’s almost like a “mom-and-pop shop” type of feel.
Carlos Garcia (Porterville location): We’re the best store that Fruit Growers has, in my opinion! We try to promote sales and provide the best customer service we possibly can. I have some great people working for me, and I give all the credit to them. They’re the ones out there, pushing hard. I just try to guide them.

Describe a typical day in your store.

Hector Mercado: I’ll come in and make the rounds, first thing in the morning. If we ran out of something the day before, we’ll get it ordered again. Sometimes we’ll get bombarded, so I’ll be grabbing inventory or ringing people up at the counter. We carry so many different items — irrigation parts, work boots, clothing, coolers, Carhartt, Ariat — and we try to be a one-stop shop for our growers. We want to meet all the needs a grower might have, and my job is to help make that happen.

Carlos Garcia: Each day is different. Whether I’m unloading a truck, getting packing house materials ready, helping out with irrigation, working in receiving, or assisting customers at the counter, I’m just doing whatever needs to be done that day, on top of my usual duties. By providing that kind of help, I can work closely with the other people here and get to know them better. I learn a lot from them, too. I don’t know everything — they can teach me, and then we all grow together.

What items are popular in the store right now?

Hector Mercado: Our fertilizer seems to be flying off the shelf. Especially with the recent rain, everyone’s trying to take advantage of the free water. A lot of our customers are also looking at their operations, seeing what’s broken, and determining what they can fix now before the weather changes, so we help them with that, too.

Carlos Garcia: We’re selling a lot of picking bags. This is the season for it. Clippers and ladders, too. We’re also running a promotion on the Bowsmith Fan-jet, which goes until March 15th.

The supply stores are known for their high level of customer service. How do your customers respond to that?

Hector Mercado: We try to do our best and help every single customer who comes into the shop. We interact with our customers on a regular basis and make sure they know we care about them. Word-of-mouth is really important, and we get a lot of new customers who’ll say, ‘My friend told me about you guys.’

Carlos Garcia: We’re in business because of our customers. If you build those relationships and take care of them, it goes a long way. I just helped a customer buy some picking bags. He’s from down south, and he took a stack of my business cards before he left, saying, ‘I have some friends who need some things, too, and I’ll have them call you.’ Those referrals are so important.

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