Garden Retailer Smith and Hawken to Close Stores

Garden retailer Smith and Hawken is going out of business. Their 55 stores nationwide will cease to exist by the end of 2009. The Gordon Brothers Group of Boston has been hired to facilitate the liquidating process.

To many customers, the closure of Smith and Hawken represents the end of an era. Yet according to Mercury News, Paul Hawken is partially relieved by the closing. Smith and Hawken is owned by the Ohio-based Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., an unsatisfactory corporate owner according to Hawken. He explains that while Smith and Hawken originally focused on high-end English gardening tools with lifetime guarantees, the parent company made changes, bringing in outdoor living products. He even encouraged people to boycott Smith and Hawken after Scotts Miracle-Gro became the largest seller of pesticides in the US.

As Hawken explains, "Scotts couldn't have been a worse corporate owner. Smith and Hawken had just become a ghost of itself. It completely lost its roots."

Scotts Miracle-Gro decided to close Smith and Hawken after poor sales figures during the first two quarters of the fiscal year. Scotts originally intended to sell Smith and Hawken, but were unable to find a buyer.

Smith and Hawken to Close: Iconic Businesses

Smaller companies often lose their roots if they under poor management from parent companies. Jordan Marsh was once an iconic department store in Boston. In 1851, Eben Jordan teamed up with merchant Benjamin Marsh. Together they sold linen, silk, and dried goods from Europe to wholesale customers. After the Civil War, Jordan Marsh explained around the Boston area and established one of the nation's first "departmentalized" stores. In the second half of the century, Jordan Jr. and Edward Mitton updated the company, turning it into a modern department store.

After World War II, Jordan Marsh saw a period of expansion all over New England, including its flagship location in downtown Boston. Jordan Marsh was a New England icon, famous for its quality goods and friendly customer service. However, bankruptcy caused Jordan Marsh to be absorbed by Burdines in 1991, later merging with Macy's East in 1994. By then, Jordan Marsh, like Smith and Hawken, had become a ghost of its former self. By 1996, most of the Jordan Marsh stores were converted to Macy's.

Cases like Smith and Hawken make customers miss cultural icons like Jordan Marsh, Marshall Field's, and Woolworth's, especially if they are replaced by Miracle Gro, Macy's and CVS.

Sources:

Smith & Hawken to close stores, including six in Bay Area, Jim Welte, Mercury News