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Garden Centre thrives as homeowners turn to gardening during pandemic

July 2, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

While many businesses have seen a slow-down in activity over the past several month and others have had to stop operating, the COVID-19 pandemic has produced a silver lining for some in the grey cloud that hangs over the business community.

At the 10 And 10 Garden Centre, they have seen a big increase in sales this spring and heading into the summer.

The Garden Centre recently opened a large new greenhouse facility at their Highway 10 location just north of Orangeville.

Owner Jasbir Kooner said that with more people working from home and others simply staying around the house to avoid going out, many people have turned to gardening and improving their home’s appearance as a way to stay busy.

“We sold out early this year, especially vegetable plants,” Mr. Kooner explained. “We have done probably four times the volume that we normally do. We we’re sold out by the beginning of June. I think a lot of people are home so they are doing a lot of gardening. More and more people are watching what they put into their bodies so that seems to be why there has been more demand for vegetables.”

Mr. Kooner said they had the same worries as other businesses early in the spring because of uncertainty of which business would be allowed to open.

“Right up to April we were scared to death. We didn’t know what was going to happen. We didn’t know if we could open or not. When they gave us the go-ahead to open, we really didn’t have the space inside for social distancing so we opened outside just in front of the green houses. Originally we had curb side pick-up and on-line orders. We hired 12 students this year and had personal shopping for everything. We sanitized everything. All you had to do was point and we would pick it up for you.”

Garden centres have been selling out across the province as people have been beautifying their home.

Mr. Kooner said he has noticed many homes in the area are looking well manicured with new plants going in. With so many people currently staying around the house, the opportunity to do some gardening has provided a lot of people with a new activity.

“We’ve been blessed,” Mr. Kooner said about the fact that they have been able to remain successful during a very difficult time for many businesses.

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