Layser’s Flowers in Pennsylvania, which recently claimed the #100 spot on Greenhouse Grower’s 2024 Top 100 Growers list, recently announced it will be closing its retail garden center to focus on its wholesale business.
“There were several factors that influenced our decision to make these changes to our operation,” Layser’s Flowers’ owner Chris Layser told Greenhouse Grower. “With my mom Lu ready to retire from managing our retail store, our family decided it would be in our best interest to focus 100% on the wholesale side of our business. The other consideration was the age of our production greenhouses on the plot shared with the retail space. My family started building up the operation here in the early 1960s and many of the structures and systems, heat, electric, and plumbing are showing their age and would require significant investment in the near future to modernize. We had it in our plans to eventually move to our more modern range of greenhouses, which has a lot of benefits; the greenhouses there have a more efficient layout and there is more land available to develop in the future.”
Chris says the move to the newer range will mean having less greenhouse space.
“There is currently just over 200,000 square feet of space at that range, but we plan to repurpose a few of the nicest structures from our old range in the near future,” Chris says. “The smaller growing space doesn’t pose much of a challenge for us currently as we were somewhat overbuilt, with some greenhouses only in use in peak seasons. In the past we were contract growing for another Pennsylvania grower to supply several big box stores, but said grower is no longer in operation as of 2024. As such, we were presented with an opportunity to drop that lower margin crop and focus on a diverse customer base which includes many independent garden centers, grocery chains, and fundraising programs for local non-profit organizations.”
The land and select equipment and structures at the old range will be available to purchase at public auction on June 19.
“We plan to use some of the proceeds of that sale to reinvest in our wholesale greenhouse growing operation at the new range,” Chris says.
Lebtown.com also posted an article on how the decision by the Layser family will affect its local customers.
