Among Northern California gems, Dig Gardens tops the list. With locations in Santa Cruz and Aptos, this one-of-a-kind garden center is focused on building a true experience. In-store offerings include workshops, home decor, and lifestyle items, alongside plants and plant necessities, making it the perfect place to find curated items for a range of settings. Cara Meyers, founder and owner of Dig Gardens, started the business over 20 years ago to create a local destination for plant-related needs. But a few macroeconomic factors forced her to evolve the business.
Workshops, for example, were an expansion she adapted to help recession-proof the business during the financial crisis in 2008. Today, the business is known for those same eclectic workshops that take place every Saturday. From learning how to make Japanese moss ball planters to crafting heart-shaped succulent arrangements, each workshop has its own flair and personality that keep customers engaged and coming back for more lessons.
When it came time to scale the business online and in-person, Meyers knew she needed tools that could support both parts of the business and help her build customer loyalty in a sustainable and efficient way, and that’s when she adopted Square tools.
How it started: A growing business stalled by stagnant tools
Meyers initially started Dig Gardens with a different point-of-sale system. As her business grew, she began to feel the need for a system that could handle every facet of her business, both online and in-person. Maintaining and managing workshops, for instance, was a hassle. “My previous point-of-sale was better for websites and online only setups. The POS was more of an afterthought,” Meyers noted.
As a business that predominantly operated as a brick-and-mortar first, the POS was crucial. She craved the ability to check customers out with ease, manage the different elements of her business from one place, and sync online and in-person inventory in real-time. “We needed a more dynamic platform that would allow us to offer workshops and sell different variations within products. Our storefront has an extensive list of items, colors, and styles; ultimately we were looking for a platform that could support that,” said Meyers.
How it’s going: A multifaceted business in sync anytime, anyplace
Meyers switched the business over to Square, where she leverages many Square tools and integrations including WooCommerce. The Square integration with WooCommerce enables Meyers to host her website through WordPress and still maintain a connection with her POS system. As a result, she’s been able to foster notable growth at both locations. “[Square and WooCommerce] really allow me to scale the store in general…The more we used Square, the more we realized its capabilities, the loyalty program, and customer data. We recognized the value, and we now have a holistic view,” she explained.
She’s now able to better manage her inventory seamlessly online and in-person, giving her better control of the business. “The inventory sync has been super helpful, knowing whatever people are buying online is syncing directly to the brick-and-mortar POS system. Within that it’s also been user-friendly,” Meyers said. A user-friendly tool creates confidence for Meyers to play around with the capabilities of both Square and WooCommerce, ensuring that she can create the experience she wants. If she needs to turn off automatic sync and handle it manually for workshops or other store activations, she’s empowered to do that. She can also still have line of sight into other plug-ins that power social media or shipping tools through WordPress without missing a beat.
The impact: Deep customer satisfaction and retention
With tools that offer deeper management and insight into the business, Meyers and the Dig Gardens team have been able to win big with customers. Through data available through its Square Loyalty program, Meyers noted that 80% of sales from 2025 so far are from loyalty members. This is crucial because her data also showed that loyalty members tend to spend 116% more per transaction than non-loyalty members.
“[Square Loyalty] has been huge for us. Huge. I mean, I can’t even tell you how important the loyalty program has been. It’s amazing how it’s improved our business,” Meyers said.
Meyers and her team can take the data from their loyalty program, alongside sales data, and decide on where to focus their marketing efforts. Dig Gardens currently uses Square Text Message Marketing to reach customers and finds the ability to connect with loyal customers directly to be game-changing. “Being able to reach out to customers via text to tell ’em if we have a sale or some sort of discount has been just great, the best way we’ve ever done any marketing over 20 years,” she added.
With insightful data and powerful, connected tools, Meyers and the team can position Dig Gardens for success and march toward a stronger future, and perhaps, even another twenty years.
