The name can be a little confusing, Bobby Oakley admits, but Pacific Organics is not based on the West Coast: it is a Henderson-based company, alive and well, creating container potting media from pine bark.
Oakley, who has been with Pacific Organics since its inception in 2004, is getting ready to retire, but he told John C. Rose Wednesday on Town Talk that the business continues to thrive, even during a pandemic.
In fact, business has really ramped up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Oakley called it “the Covid effect”: “Who knew that the pandemic would dramatically increase sales?” he recounted Wednesday. “Apparently people stuck at home, a lot of them thought about putting plants in the ground,” Oakley said. He said 3,500 truckloads have been shipped up and down the East Coast this year.
Increased demand for the products that Pacific produces – premium potting mix, pine bark media bases and mulch – created a slightly stressful situation for Oakley in the past year, because it meant having to find additional raw materials and then additional transport.
Oakley said Henderson was a perfect location for the business because of its proximity to interstates for shipping and to saw mills and paper mills, which generate the pine bark that they need to create their mulch and mixes.
The pine bark, a by-product of the mill processes, serves as the key ingredient for the Pacific Organics products. They ship in bulk or in loose form – there’s no packaging at their facility, which sits on 23.5 acres on Peter Gill Road.
Oakley said he loves the nursery business and the nursery supply business. When he was contacted by one of the co-founders back in 2004, he was interested in better serving an underserved market. Plus, he said, although he had a great job at the time, he was “bored.”
“I’m Interested in exploring the next phase of my life,” Oakley said of his retirement.
All I know is I’m going to the beach a lot, and read a lot,” he said. Maybe he’ll even play a little golf again. But being bored will not be on his to-do list.
Visit www.pacific-organics.com to learn more.
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