East Bay Nursery

Christmas trees! Can't beat their selection and service. At least four people offered to help us while we were choosing a tree. They did a fresh cut for me with the chainsaw and secured tree to van in no time. I'm sure there are cheaper tree vendors to be found but a 9-10 foot Noble Fir is our annual splurge, and East Bay delivers every time. (I think they literally deliver to your home as well, if desired)

When I first walked into East Bay Nursery I felt completely overwhelmed with excitement!!! I wanted to walk every isle so not to miss anything... I was so pleased that everything I saw was healthy and seemed to be flourishing... This immediately told me that the staff clearly cared about their business... That was very comforting for me and I felt connected ☺️... The staff was friendly and was very attentive... The only thing bad I could say was that I got there at 4 and could not finish walking the entire Nursery because they were closing at 5... But it's ok, means I need to go back... Haha, found a new gem and very pleased... Oh, and prices were definitely reasonable... 👌

I have previously had good experiences at this nursery and still think they have a good selection of seemingly healthy plants. However I was there a couple of days ago and found that the entrance to their parking lot was blocked by people who were loading several large plants into the back of their pickup. I honked and indicated to them that I wanted to enter the parking lot and one guy held up a finger as if to say "one minute". So I waited a few more minutes while they continued to block the entrance (they could easily have moved the plants out of the way) and then decided to go in the exit. I made a nifty 3 point turn in the lot and easily parked in a space. Nobody was inconvenienced, there were no cars wanting to exit since there were no cars entering, and I was careful to make sure nobody was coming out. As I was getting out of my car, some officious jerk (an employee) asked in a nasty tone if I realized that I had come in the exit. I pointed out to him that my only choices since the entrance was blocked were to either go in the exit or go to another nursery. Next time I'll go to another nursery!

Early this summer I had an occurrence that would make me want to give this shop a one star rating, yet to be realistic, despite my recent negative encounter, they do still have a large selection and a nice yard, so I decided to give them two total stars. I had been there about 4 or 5 months ago and I had purchased 3 trees for about $400. One pomegranate, a blood orange and an avocado. They helped me with the selection as normal. We have had a pretty weird wet and cold year and I have not had the best of luck with my trees. The Pomegranate is doing somewhat good, the blood orange sort of ok and the avocado not doing good at all. I have been watering a couple of times/week at the most (as directed by the nursery) when there has not been rain. Out of my concern, I took some photos of the troubled trees down to their shop to get some advice. It did not go well at all, just about the exact opposite experience I had when I was initially spending money. I was directed to one of the staff who I had dealt with before. The focus was the avocado. It had hardly grown and had no leaves after close to four months. The first thing I noticed right away is that the same type of avocado tree that was now there in a 5 gallon bucket was like literally 10x the size of what I was sold at $80. The new trees had about 50 or so leaves while mine has none even after 4 months of being planted. What is going on I thought?? The person who I was speaking with started repeating numerous times that, ‘…the Avocado trees are EXTREMELY EXTREMELY tricky in this climate…’. I eventually stopped him and said, ‘Are you trying to shock me? I had an idea that Berkeley does not have the very ideal climate for growing Avocados but there was no mention that the Avocado trees are EXTREMELY EXTREMELY tricky in this climate… (I had not even initially come to purchase an avocado tree yet that was a choice I was given and took…). So why do you keep repeating it now AFTER the tree has failed? Should you not have emphasized this before??’. I guess that made sense so the young man started raising his voice at me and inflaming the conversation.?? I was appalled yet I had certainly not gone there for conflict so I did not respond further and just walked out. I was planning on just relaying my experience here but then it occurred to me that I should call and speak with the owner, I am sure he/she is not okay with the staff being rude, belittling and totally unsupportive of customers with failed trees. The behavior of that person seems unjustified, mean spirited and just bad business. When I phoned in, one of the managers informed me that that person who was supposedly helping me was son of the owner. The conversation lasted some time; after some back and forth, it became clear that I was severely mistreated. That manager was somewhat reasonable so he offered to sell me another Avocado tree at 50% off. I thought about it and thanked him for trying to be reasonable but then turned down the offer because ultimately that was about $40 and he wanted me to dig up the receipt and it just did not feel generous. If the owner’s son initially had offered me something like a 50% discount, that would have been perfectly reasonable and I would have gratefully taken it but to have had gone through this negative and deceptive experience and then to be offered a minimum discount felt weird and not worthwhile. I’m a darker skinned, well-educated Middle Eastern man and responsible local small business owner. I have been providing service for folks in the Bay Area for a couple of decades and have stood behind my work 100% of the time. While I certainly do not have experiences like this all of the time, ironically, I get more than my fair share... Usually the projection is, ‘You're just a difficult customer…’. Really, you don’t do your job right & when I calmly point it out, it somehow becomes my fault?? It seems at times people can be great when first getting paid for their services, then when needing to provide after sales support, the tune changes... I will be taking my business elsewhere.

While I was driving down San Pablo Avenue, I noticed East Bay Nursery on the corner. There was room in their parking lot, so, I decided to park and check them out. The next thing that I noticed was the wonderful murals that are painted on some of the outside walls. They also have a security guard. Out front, there are large watering troughs that could be used creatively for more than watering livestock. EBN is neat and in order. Everything looks in it's place. It is also much bigger than it looks from the street. When you enter, you enter a specific way (and exit a different way—good for Covid prevention). Everyone needs to wear a mask. They have an outside structure that is covered, and has rows and rows of vegetable and herb starts. They have an outside uncovered area with trees that are in season, and outdoor plants. Everything is labeled so you can easily identify what you are looking at. Inside the room where you make your purchases, besides having indoor plants, there are tools, ceramic pots, and humming bird feeders. They are closed Sunday, and Monday. Also, if it raining—call to make sure they are open.