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R.I.P. Smith and Hawken

14 years ago

I just got an email from Smith and Hawken that they've stopped e-commerce and that they are going out of business with sales at their stores.

After 30 years.

If you are near one of their stores and if it has the stainless steel spades and shovels, they are great and you might want to upgrade to them while they are still available.

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Comments (13)

mendocino_rose
14 years ago
That's too bad. I always liked their stuff but never could afford it.
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hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
14 years ago
Scott's Fertilizer bought them last year, (why I could never figure out), and then the financial meltdown finished them off.
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OT: Smith & Hawken Closing
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I just went to my local S&H...and the entire store was 20-30% off. Of course, they are very proud of their offerings. The local store said they would be open another 2-3 months and every week they'll be bringing in new merchandise from the wherehouse. So...it might get interesting in 6 weeks or so. I'm holding out for the real bargains! ;-) Kristi
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Target Smith & Hawken bulbs in pot, sale $4.99
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I just received one of these for Christmas after I kept an eye out for white Amaryllis (or any other color besides the endless reds I have). I received a Minerva though. I have to admit, I was nervous about using the pot since it had no holes on the bottom and I was disappointed after the little disk only filled the pot halfway with growing medium. I decided to stick the bulb in there as a temporary measure until spring comes and then I can get it in the ground. My search for non-red Amaryllis continues!
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smith & hawken liquidation sale
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Comments (16)
Founders: 'Smith & Hawken Opportunity Squandered' By Tom Ryan Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. announced last week that it would close its remaining 56 Smith & Hawken stores by the end of 2009. But both founders expressed relief because the chain had long abandoned its original values. "Scotts couldn't have been a worse corporate owner," Paul Hawken told the Marin Independent Journal. "Smith & Hawken had become just a ghost of itself." Smith and Hawken opened their first retail store in Mill Valley in California in 1982 with a goal of providing organic gardeners with handcrafted tools from England with a lifetime guarantee. It eventually became an early role model for socially responsible companies. Smith & Hawken changed owners a number of times, including a sale to CML in 1993, to DDJ Capital in 1999, and Scott in 2004. But the founders were particularly upset by the sale to Scott, best known for its Miracle-Gro plant food and Ortho weed killer. "When Scotts bought it and Smith & Hawken was owned by the largest pesticide seller in the U.S., I suggested people boycott it," Mr. Hawkens said. "It had completely lost its roots." Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mr. Smith said, "It's a boom time in the gardening business and Smith & Hawken is going down the tube because it went way off the roots of the company and became a frou-frou, knick-knack kind of store, instead of a serious gardening store." At the time of the 2004 acquisition, Scott said it was hoping Smith & Hawken would expand the company beyond its "grow and kill" products and increase its appeal to women. Its initial plan was to turn Smith & Hawken into an outdoor living and gardening product line to sell to stores such as Home Depot and Lowe's. "That proved to be a strategy we could not execute," Scott's spokesman Jim King, told the Chronicle. "It left us with a specialty retailer, and that's not who we are. We never meant to keep it as a stand-alone retail operation." Meanwhile, the store branched out into outdoor living products such as furniture, fire pits, lighting and garden dÃ©cor. "How could you possibly have a gardening store in this economy and go wrong?" Mr. Hawken said. "I'll tell you why. This wasn't a gardening store anymore." Scott said it was unable to find a buyer for the struggling chain. Said Scotts' CEO Jim Hagendorn, "Unfortunately, the combination of a weak economy and the lack of scale proved too great to overcome."
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WANTED: Four Seasons Garden Flags - Smith & Hawken
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Comments (3)
Sorry for the delay...I have not checked this thread in a while. I had posted on the Landscape Design forum with most people suggesting ebay or to custom make them. I can't believe you are looking for the seasonal flags as well. Are you saying the images were all black like what would be in a coloring book? I have a hard time remembering what the flags looked like, but I think they were many colors and quite detailed as far as the images were. However, your description sounds sort of familiar. I remember the images and flag colors to be suggestive of the seasons without the stereotypical flower, sun, pumpkin and snow-scene of other seasonal flags. The wheat one sounds similar but I'm not sure about the others. The following is part of a reply that I posted on the Landscape Design forum from early May: "The one I seem to remember is Winter. It did not have the typical snowman or christmas tree motif that most seasonal flags have. I think the colors were white, light purple and maybe a sage green. Not the usual winter flag colors, but very cool in tone and feeling. I think it had a rectangular field of harlequin pattern and some item in the middle like a family crest or something similarly shaped." I seem to remember the Smith & Hawken ones being about $200 for the four...they might have included a nice pole and mount as well, not sure. We didn't buy them because we didn't have a place for them at the time. How much were the ones at Target? Let me know if you remember any other details. Thanks, Don
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lagomorphmom
14 years ago
Yeah, too bad. When I got their catalog many years ago, you could find interesting garden tools, etc. So I was excited when they moved in about two years ago in a shopping area close by. Very disappointed when I went in. I'd say +80% or so was patio/lawn furniture and stuff to go with them. Only a small section of real garden things and very high priced. If Scott's bought them, no wonder they may have lost their 'place'.
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petaloid
14 years ago
Sad, isn't it?

We went to the local store on Saturday. Most merchandise was 20% off at that time, except for their regular discount corner items which were reduced much more.

I imagine as time goes by the discounts will increase.
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anntn6b
Original Author
14 years ago
My favorite weeding tool had an unplanned encounter with DH's lawnmower and neither faired well. The tool was from Smith and Hawken and we tried to replace it this spring, only to find that it had been discontinued. So I had a feeling that all wasn't going well.

We had a seller of their tools in South Knoxville who wasn't selling them this spring, but it was nice to be able to get the feel of the tools before buying.

I'm not sure who their competitors were.
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greenhaven
14 years ago
All I am familiar with in regards to Smith&Hawken is their ridiculously overpriced home decor stuff at target. Shame, because I really like it, too! Very tasteful.
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serenasyh
14 years ago
Greenhaven I suspect that Smith&Hawken has tons of U.S. made or other high-quality products... I am sick and tired of made-in-China craaaap, as I call it... the stuff that breaks in a month or less... It is soooo hard for me to find U.S made tools.. I am constantly looking for made-in-U.S. and it is sooo hard to find. Only the Europeans, Canadians, Japanese make products, besides the U.S. that I can trust...I'd rather shell out for EXPENSIVE and for the highest quality...All my garden tools made-from-China-Home-Depot have been crap! awkward, heavy and blunt! and wish I hadn't wasted my money on these cheapos but sadly there were no! American made that I could find locally. If anyone has any made-in-U.S. gardening tools that they bought online, please! let me know...

I am sad to see Smith and Hawken go...you all are lucky to have them in your city...If they were in Kansas City, I'd be raiding their shelves...
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cecily
14 years ago
Check Lee Valley for well made garden (and woodworking) tools. DH purchased a number of woodworking tools when he built the sailboat and I swooned when LV kindly sent a garden catalog. The long handled tree trimmer and garden fork are particular faves.
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Maryl (Okla. Zone 7a)
14 years ago
A few years after I decided I was hooked on this thing called gardening I asked for and received for Christmas a metal Haws watering can. I was enticed into buying this by one of my first Smith & Hawken catalogs. Next came a pair of Felco pruners. Both of these purchases of 20 years or so ago are still with me and functioning. However about 5 years ago I visited my first S&H gardening store in person and was so disappointed. So many things there were of a decorative nature that I felt I'd landed in Martha Stewart world. What gardening tools they did have were very high priced, and of course by this time I had most of them anyway. I really hadn't even thought of them until this came up.
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eeekk
14 years ago
I've seen the sale signs, but didn't realize they were going out of business. I always wondered who could afford those prices. Now I know the answer... nobody!
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serenasyh
14 years ago
Thanks so much Cecily for the Lee Valley vendor recommendation! I will have to hurry and get the good stuff before Wall-y, HD drive the high-quality vendors under...
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prairielaura
14 years ago
Smith and Hawken are NOT giving anything away; in fact the prices at the Houston store will still take your breath away. However, they have sold almost all their tools already, presumably to people who didn't want to go back to big-box-store tools. The rest of that stuff is indeed overpriced Martha Stewart type merchandise.
Laura
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mori1
14 years ago
I'm so sorry to hear that, I loved their dried flower wreaths. I didn't even know that they made tools. For tools, I prefer Bond, they work so well with Kansas clay soil.
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