Spring is almost here, and garden centers are getting ready for the season. After three decades, Peter and Claudia Risbara were planning to retire last year, but then came the best sales they'd seen in at least 15 years, back before larger stores started dominating sales.
"Trees, shrubs, flowers, all of that just flying. Bagged products, it was crazy," Peter Risbara said.
"There was a point where we still had plants that we could put up, more than what we normally did, but we couldn't even get pots to put them in. Couldn't get soil," Claudia Risbara said.
The pandemic brought a surge of new flower and vegetable growers, so they stuck it out, but when purchasing equipment for this year, Peter Risbara decided it was time.
"I came back to Claudia and I said, like an epiphany, 'We're closing at the end of July,' and Claudia said, 'No, we're closing the 3rd of July so we can have the 4th of July off'," Peter Risbara said.
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