Target to shutter garden centers
| Wednesday, Sep 08 2010 05:10 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Sep 08 2010 05:10 PM
Shoppers who go to Target for their gardening needs soon will have to find a new supplier of live plants.
A spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-based retailer said Wednesday that all of Target Corp.'s outdoor garden centers will close by the end of this month, though items such as rakes and patio furniture will still be available inside the stores on a seasonal basis.
"Ultimately, this is no longer a profitable business for Target," spokeswoman Jenna Reck said. She added that the company opened its first garden center in 1980, and that only 262 of the chain's nearly 1,800 stores have outdoor garden centers.
Perhaps no one will miss the chain's garden center on Wible Road more than Steve Bolles, owner of nearby Bolles Nursery/Landscape. He said Target employees tended to refer customers to him when they didn't have certain goods in stock.
"Seriously, I'm gonna miss 'em," Bolles said.
So will Bakersfield Target customer Christie Vasquez, who recently picked up several pieces of patio furniture from the retailer.
"It has a really good selection," she said.
As for where she will shop now, Vasquez wasn't ready to say. She plans to do some comparison shopping first.
"I'll have to look at some of the local nurseries they have in town," she said. "Hopefully they'll be competitive."
Joanna Reed, owner of Cricklewood Secret Garden on Brundage Lane, said the closure of Target's garden centers could help local, independent nurseries.
"It's almost like going back to where we began" before Target opened garden centers, she said.
But Reed also expects that many people who now buy their gardening goods at Target will end up going to other large retailers rather than supporting smaller independents. That is, unless they need something special, she said.
"If they're looking for a higher quality or something that is out of the norm, something different, they'll go to the independent," she said.
The Target spokeswoman said space now occupied by the company's garden centers will be reused according to individual stores' needs. She declined to discuss specific stores' plans.
On Wednesday, the Target on Wible Road featured discounts -- some as high as 30 percent -- on various garden products.
