Slight gains drive L&G dealers to innovate

Home Channel News, July 19, 1999

Notes:

(*.)Sales per store are listed in millions of dollars.

(1.) Frank's Nursery & Crafts. Parent General Host sold Frank's in December 1997 to Cypress Group LLC for $320 million. Cypress jettisoned Frank's home decor-oriented prototype called Five Seasons in favor of returning the chain to its lawn and garden roots.

(2.) Smith & Hawken. Parent company, CML, liquidates, and Smith & Hawken acquired on Feb. 11,1999 by two creditors, DJJ Capital Management and State of Wisconsin Investment Board.

(3.) Armstrong Garden Centers. In January 1999, made $3 million bid to acquire 14 Nurseryland stores in California that were part of Sunbelt Nurseries. Sunbelt's 59 stores eventually were acquired by four different buyers.

(4.) S.K.H. Management. Operates stores under the name Stauffers of Kissel Hill.

(5.) SummerWinds Garden Center. Company was formed in 1997 for the purpose of acquiring garden centers.

(6.) Green Thumb International. Owned by the same family as Green Arrow Nursery and Hardware, though each company is managed separately.

(7.) Adams Fairacre Farms. Revenue figures include business from three lawn and garden outlets, plus nursery sales from three grocery stores.

(8.) M. Goldfarb My Florist. Operates stores under the name Arcadia Gardens.

Methodology: The information in this table was gathered by Tampa, Fla.-based CSG Information Services, the research division of Lebhar-Friedman, NHCN's parent company. Where there was a tie, the company with the better sales percentage growth was ranked first; if that was a tie, then the one with the best sales per store was ranked first.

Source: NHCN research