The Greater Chicago retail market is competitive. Landscaping for retail properties is essential for attracting shoppers, ensuring safety, and protecting property value.
While enhancements like new landscape installations can make an impression, ongoing care keeps properties looking sharp and operating smoothly year-round.
Let’s go through a season-by-season guide on the must-have landscape maintenance for retail tasks you need to have on your property manager to-do list, including:
These essentials can ensure your property looks sharp and operates smoothly all year long.
A retail property in Greater Chicago needs to be attractive to shoppers all year long – not just on Black Friday or before the holiday season or Mother’s Day or graduation season or summer wedding season. There is always an occasion to shop. Think birthdays, anniversaries, and just-because.
To ensure you stand out and draw shoppers in any time of the year, let’s go through each season and deliver a maintenance list for landscaping for retail centers that ensures you remain top-tier in your market.
There’s a lot of cleanup necessary after winter in Greater Chicago to ensure the spring retail landscape looks neat and tidy.
As we mentioned above, shopping doesn’t stop. People emerge from their winter cocoons and seek Easter cheer, bright spring sentiments, and even items for spring dances like proms. This means shopping areas cannot look shabby; they must present these customers with the same awakening spring energy in their landscape maintenance for curb appeal.
This begins with spring cleanups where your commercial landscape maintenance professional will remove winter debris, prune back damaged tree or shrub branches, and clear planting beds of old leaves and trash to set the stage for healthy plant growth.
Beds will also receive preemergent weed control to suppress nasty weed growth and a fresh layer of mulch to ensure the soil retains moisture and that the planting beds look polished.
For your retail commercial turf, your commercial maintenance team will fertilize, apply pre-emergent herbicides to control weeds, and identify areas where overseeding is necessary to fill in bare spots.
Finally, a retail property wouldn’t be inviting without seasonal spring color, including early-blooming annuals and the emergence of bulbs planted in the fall to ensure pops of welcoming hues that draw shoppers’ eyes and enhance curb appeal.
Next comes the heat of summer. As the growing warmth increases, shoppers will want to spend more time in outdoor areas and rest spots at retail centers in Greater Chicago to enjoy the longer days and sunshine.
As such, property managers cannot ignore landscape maintenance for retail properties.
Routinely mowing every one to two weeks will keep the turf looking healthy, neat, and inviting, allowing it to withstand customer traffic.
Weed and pest management strategies will ensure that insects and unsightly weeds are limited.
Pruning trees and shrubs for shape, safety, and visibility ensures that entrances and signage remain unobstructed and sightlines remain clear, which is crucial for security reasons.
As the heat rises and dry weather emerges, irrigation management becomes increasingly important at this time of year. Inspecting and adjusting irrigation systems for efficiency prevents dry spots and wasteful, costly runoff.
And the seasonal color doesn’t stop in summer. Brighter, more vibrant summer annuals can be included in retail beds and containers. Seasonal color maintenance, including deadheading and replacing annuals as needed, helps keep displays vibrant throughout the heat.
As summer winds down and fall leaves create an additional rich palette of hues, the dropping leaves also necessitate additional landscape maintenance for retail tasks.
This means regularly clearing fallen leaves and debris from lawns, beds, and hardscapes to prevent slip hazards and turf damage.
As the autumn nears its end, final mowing and fertilization of plants begin. A fall fertilizer is included to help strengthen grass roots for winter, and slightly reducing mowing height on the final mow ensures the turf goes into winter with less risk of developing snow mold.
Cutting back perennials and adding a fresh layer of mulch where needed can ensure some winter protection.
Finally, winter prep is an important task to address before those first cold days and snow accumulations arrive. Here, your commercial landscape professional will inspect and winterize your irrigation system to prevent freezing and property damage, ensuring you don't waste water.
Your property manager will want to ensure your snow removal contract is in place before the first storm hits.
Greater Chicago winters are no joke when it comes to accumulations of ice and snow. However, that doesn’t mean your retail center will stop welcoming shoppers. Your customers may be more eager to escape into your warm shopping centers.
That’s why snow and ice removal is so vital for landscaping for retail properties. Prompt, professional snow and ice management is essential for retail properties. Keep parking lots, walkways, and entrances clear to maintain accessibility and reduce liability.
Plants also need some winter care. Your commercial landscape professional will protect your evergreens and sensitive plants from salt and wind damage with burlap wraps or anti-desiccant sprays.
They will also regularly inspect your retail site for ice buildup, fallen branches, or other hazards that could negatively impact the safety of shoppers on your property or the appearance of your site.
Why must a property manager maintain landscaping for retail centers year-round?
Ignoring winter or any other season isn't viable when enhancing curb appeal to attract shoppers to your stores. Carefully maintained landscapes have been proven to attract more customers, resulting in increased time and spending at your site.
Shoppers also want to feel safe and secure when visiting your retail center. This means regular pruning, lighting checks, and debris removal, which improve visibility and reduce the risks of accidents or crime, are essential to ensuring your shoppers feel comfortable and safe.
As a business owner or property manager, you also want to keep costs down. Proactive landscape care prevents costly emergency repairs and plant replacements, protecting your investment over time.
Ultimately, failing to maintain the landscaping for curb appeal at your retail property can compromise your brand's reputation. Regular, top-notch maintenance showcases professionalism and meticulousness – traits that distinguish your retail center from competitors.
Most retail property managers partner with experienced commercial landscape maintenance professionals who understand the unique demands of high-traffic, high-visibility environments. This is a great way to ensure you don’t lack the care you need throughout the entire year or neglect important tasks on your property that could deter shoppers.
Experts like KD Landscape provide scheduled, contract-based commercial landscape maintenance in Greater Chicago tailored to this region’s climate and retail rhythms, ensuring your property looks its best in every season.
Professional landscape design and maintenance can help people engage more with your business, direct traffic to your shopping center, keep customers there longer, and conserve energy and water. The result is lower costs for you and a more visually appealing overall look that drives positive business outcomes.
Want a Greater Chicago commercial retail property with strong curb appeal that attracts more shoppers? Request a proposal from KD Landscape for commercial landscape maintenance today. We can enhance your grounds while ensuring that your spaces are functional.