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10 and 10 Garden Centre plans huge expansion

November 25, 2021   ·   1 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

It is a local success story built on quality service, products, and a commitment to the community that has turned the 10 and 10 Garden Centre into a destination for many people looking for plants or associated garden and home improvement products.

The Garden Centre has thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic and is now planning a huge expansion that will see 57,000 square feet of green house space added to their already impressive glass covered operation on Highway 10. Currently, it has 17,000 square feet of growing space.

While many businesses suffered during the pandemic, the garden industry along with home renovation supply companies thrived.

With so many people working from home or travelling less due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many home owners decided the time to improve their property was at hand.

“When we built this place, we thought that maybe five years down the road we would have enough return on investment and profits that we could expand,” explained Nishan Kooner, who along with family members Jasbir, Chantal, and Asha, owns the Garden Centre. “We’ve been here in this building for two years. It was November 12, 2019 when we opened. Home improvement in general, went a little bit nuts during the pandemic. We had the benefit of being involved with spring plants, vegetables especially. What we saw the first year of the pandemic were people turning their flower gardens into vegetable gardens.”

The result was a very successful time for the Garden Centre.

The plan now is to almost triple the footprint of the 17,000 square foot greenhouse, which includes a new growing space in the field behind it.

While the current facility is designed for growing plants and retail space, the new facility would be focused on growing only.

“The growing green houses will have more technology,” Mr. Kooner said. “There will an automatic watering system so we can flip a switch and it will water all the plants on its own. There will be automatic shade glass, so depending on the weather, if we need to heat or cool it will be very eco-friendly. The new facility is for growing, and growing only. We are hoping to grow around 90 per cent of the vegetable plants that we sell.”

The new development is already well into the planning stage, however the project still needs municipal approval.

“We have ordered the green houses, we have all the drawings and the engineers to work on everything they need to work on. Then we present a site plan with all the required information and that goes to the township. It is unusual – it’s not like the Niagara Region where they see hundreds of greenhouse applications in a year. We’re hoping because we have everything done right, it’s a seamless process,” said Mr. Kooner.

The new facility will accommodate 14,000 hanging baskets.

Currently the operation is not plugged into a water source. Two large tanks are used to collect natural rain water which is then used to water the plants.

The Garden Centre takes pride in their community involvement and supports several local charities and plans to continue their efforts.

“I think the town supports us,” Mr. Kooner said. “It benefits the community. They want to see growth. We have a lot of support from Shelburne, Orangeville, and Mono, and we get a lot of visitors from Brampton and Toronto. We’re hoping we can start construction early next year so we can be equipped and ready to grow by 2023.”

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