For over 50 years, Colonial Gardens in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania has been a family-owned business – and that’s how long current owner Eric Schmidt has spent his days surrounded by the beautiful flowers and plants that they sell to customers throughout the region.
Colonial Gardens has gone through numerous expansions and renovations since its establishment in 1964. In 2021, Eric decided it was time to upgrade the garden center with the addition of a retail greenhouse. “We used to have a little hoop house attached to the building, but it was awkwardly placed and wasn’t the right size,” he explained.
Eric and his team worked with Rimol sales representative Harry Edwards to design and construct a 30’ x 48’ Matterhorn greenhouse to replace the existing hoop house. The Matterhorn was engineered to attach directly to the garden center building, creating a smooth traffic flow for customers and staff.
“As soon as we put it up, we saw a significant increase in people traveling to our store,” said Eric. “It has made us more marketable and is bringing a lot of young people into the business, especially through the winter. The greenhouse is a game changer for us.”
Eric added, “When you have a nice structure, a greenhouse changes how a garden center can operate. You can make money in the winter and keep your customers engaged with good products and good facilities.”
Colonial Gardens keeps their Matterhorn full of an extensive selection of florals, house plants and pottery. Their greenhouse is outfitted with an environmental control system that allows them to regulate heating and cooling to keep their plants thriving year-round.
As Colonial Gardens continues to grow, they are working expanding the acreage outside of the garden center into an agricultural entertainment and event rental facility to include a privet maze, herbal labyrinth, green roofed chicken house, garden art, and a Christmas light show.
“Longer-term, we realize that some of our friends have unfortunately not weathered the industry as long as we have. A common mistake with garden centers is not considering yourself a year-round business. We want to be relevant to our customers not just in April and May, but also in January and February – and our greenhouse helps that.