Hilltop Greenhouses is located on a 100+ year old farmstead along the national river route on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in Illinois City, Illinois. It is located just 10 minutes from Muscatine, IA (population approximately 23,000) and within 25 minutes of the IL/IA Quad Cities with an additional population of nearly 500,000 people. Additionally, many customers travel from farther distances on both sides of the border after hearing of its reputation. In short, the greenhouse is located near major population centers and offers customers a unique opportunity to escape the city and enjoy the peaceful beauty of the Mississippi Valley.
Hilltop Greenhouses was established in 1998 as a fresh cut flower and herb business and has evolved into the premier greenhouse business of the Quad Cities. The location and layout of the business offers an extremely unique setting for plant lovers to shop for hours and select from a huge variety of annuals, perennials, and hearty vegetables. Once customers first experience Hilltop, they come back and bring their friends with them for years to follow. Hilltop has a large presence in the community for being a reputable small business. This presence has extended to social media as Hilltop currently has approximately 4,000 Facebook followers.
When Hilltop transitioned to selling annual and perennial plants, it was primarily a wholesale business with the goal of becoming a 100% retail business. The wholesale business was profitable and paid for all construction expansions over the years, however the decision was made to drastically reduce the wholesale customer base in order to reduce the complexity, simplify the business, and focus on more profitable revenue channels. Within four years, we replaced approximately $120,000 of discontinued wholesale business with more profitable retail business. Currently, retail revenue accounts for 80% of total revenue while the remaining 20% of revenue comes from three wholesale accounts. Hilltop Greenhouses has experienced YoY profitable revenue growth 16 of 18 years with little to no advertising.
Hilltop currently has eight local employees that have worked for the business for many years and do an outstanding job with plant production, sales, customer service, and routine maintenance. We believe these employees would continue working for the business and the new owners. Plant production begins in early March while retail sales begin April 15th and end in early-June. After the spring season has finished, mums are usually planted in mid-June followed by weekend sales beginning mid-August through the first week of October. The current business model demands approximately five months of dedicated operations while offering approximately seven months of light to very little work load.
Hilltop Greenhouses sits on six acres of land. There is plenty of land to build a house on the property or if you are looking to live off-site, an additional 40 acres of tillable ground and timber land is available on beautiful bluff property. It is a coveted property for those who are seeking privacy and the outdoors. Check out all that Hilltop has to offer!