West Side Stories: Martin's Greenhouse

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Jean Martin-Neblung didn’t always think she’d run the family business. It wasn't until one day, when her uncle was ready to pass it along, that the idea came into full view.

"He was walking out one day and she [Jean] was on the porch, and he just said, ‘I’m done, it’s yours,’” said Al Neblung, Jean’s husband.

By the time she inherited the business, Jean had been working at it since she was 5 years old, so taking it over was as seamless a transition as ever.

When her uncle ran the business, he catered it specifically to his neighbors on the west side. Upon taking it over themselves 27 years ago, neither Jean nor Al anticipated what the business would grow into.

Martin’s Greenhouse is a small oasis tucked along Western Avenue on South Bend’s west side. Go deep enough into the shelves of flowers, veggies and herbs, and you won’t realize you’re on the edge of one of the busiest roads in town. That is, until a car horn blares somewhere beyond the fence.

The business was started in 1911 by Jean’s great grandmother and passed down through five generations. What began as a small section of land behind a house expanded into a personalized picking experience for the community.

The greenhouse offers 658 varieties of flowers, herbs and vegetable plants. After walking through the gate, customers have a chance to hand pick exactly which items they want, or they can ask Al or Jean what they think is best for the space they have. The staff will even take customers’ pots and re-pot them with fresh blooms. In an era of box stores and self-checkouts, it says a lot about a business when they can personalize both the experience and the product for the customer.

All plants come from a local farm in Portage, Michigan, and have for the last 47 years. The business gets truckloads of shipments each week during the “on” season, which lasts from mid-April through early June.

Despite the short season, the couple can hardly keep plants on the shelves. Both Al and Jean chalk it up to the quality and price of their products, but a big part of why customers love them so much is the atmosphere they’ve established and the familial relationship between employees and patrons.

“It’s kind of fun, actually, because, people come in and you will hear somebody say, ‘it’s a newbie!’” said Jean.

Another way they’ve pulled in patrons? Facebook, of which Jean is a frequent poster.

“I post pretty much every day,” Jean said. “You know, I’m not afraid to tell everybody what’s going on, what’s happening.”

Her daily updates, comprised of plant photos, updates on greenhouse construction and even a shoutout to ABC57, are well-loved by followers. She also loves to repost pictures customers have shared with her featuring plants they purchased from Martin’s.

Though the local community makes up most of the customer base, as the greenhouse grows in popularity, Al and Jean have learned that people make trips from out of town just to shop with them.

“It’s not just the west side now, we get people from Chicago, Rochester,” Jean said.

A challenge in gaining more customers is anticipating what they'll shop for, coupled with how to make space for it all. That's why the couple bought more property and built a system of shelves for extra outdoor storage. Despite the updates, however, what hasn’t changed with the business is the core of why they do what they do.

Martin’s Greenhouse is designed to be affordable for residents on the west side. If someone is short on money, Al and Jean trust them to bring the rest of the money back later. They never wanted to be a big, lofty business, just a place to serve and give back to their local community.

"We treat people with respect,” said Al. “We’re not a big fancy schmancy greenhouse where we just treat them like a customer. No, we treat them like people.”

Martin’s Greenhouse is located at 3614 W. Western Ave. You can follow them on Facebook here.