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Sisters Vicki Young and Jeanne McGuire wear “all the hats” when running the heart of Hot Springs Sod and Turf, a business owned and operated by their family for more than 30 years.
“Other than running the whole operation, we do design and install land- scaping,” McGuire said. “We sell materials for landscaping and gardening supplies.”
“We run the heart of the business,” Young said. “We do the scheduling, planning.”
“It’s hard to flower it up with words,” McGuire said.
Raised on a sod farm in Perry County, the sisters’ parents, Clay and Shar- ron Hawkins, came to Hot Springs in 1989 to sell grass when 1810 Albert Pike Road — now the current location of Hot Springs Sod & Turf — was just a parking lot.
“In 1996, Jeanne and I came in and started running the business selling sod, and then we started adding all these other things to it, and about 10 years ago, we were able to come over into this building and stretch out,” Young said. “So we’ve been here, in this lot for 31 years, this year.”
“And then,” McGuire said, we’ve had kids around the same age, so we’ve done a lot of things in the same timing since we’ve gotten older.”
“With each change in life,” Young said, “we’ve gotten closer, and when we started working together (the rest is history).”
“It takes determination,” Young said, “especially in the winter months when things get a bit slow. It takes determination to keep going through the years because we have sat here during winters and actually had board games out, but not over the past several winters. We’ve built a year-round business, not just seasonal one out of this.”
Young said their idea has been to “take care of people from the ground up.”
“The supply, the install, the maintenance and just being there for (our customers) after everything, because we’re not going to do things and just say ‘I’m finished with you,’” she said.
Young said if you want something “bad enough,” you’re going to work hard for it.
“So, I wouldn’t say we’ve even come to an end; we’re still growing after 31 years,” she said. “We’re constantly changing here.”
“Every part of it is a challenge, so with each challenge we get stronger and stronger,” McGuire said.
McGuire said the sod and turf business has taught them to step out of their comfort zone and get on heavy equipment and learn how to use
Story by Cassidy Kendall, photography by Grace Brown
12 APRIL/MAY 2020 ¯ HER MAGAZINE
Sisters Vicki Young and Jeanne McGuire wear “all the hats” when running the heart of Hot Springs Sod and Turf, a business owned and operated by their family for more than 30 years.
“Other than running the whole operation, we do