An Indiana-based gardening retailer has submitted a $9 million bid to purchase Gardener’s Supply Company, a popular employee-owned Vermont business that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday.
Gardens Alive, Inc., is currently the sole bidder ahead of a potential auction on July 18, according to court documents. The auction will only take place if additional bidders emerge.
Gardener’s Supply, known for its wide range of quality gardening products, disclosed in its bankruptcy filing last week that it owes more than $4.5 million to 30 creditors, including two international companies and four based in Vermont. These debts, which are not backed by collateral, have left some small suppliers questioning whether they will ever recoup the money they’re owed.
Among them is River Berry Farm in Fairfax that sold Gardener’s Supply vegetable and herb transplants this season. Co-owner David Marchant said the bankruptcy came as a surprise — and with it, a financial blow. Gardener’s Supply owes the farm about $64,000, or about 10% of the business’s gross profit for the year, he said.
“It’s a significant hit. It’s not gonna put us out of business, but it’s gonna certainly drastically change the outcome of the year for us and our employees,” he said.
“I know the buyer who’s bought from us real well and I wish we had gotten hints earlier,” Marchant added. “It’s too bad they didn’t let everybody know that they were in trouble.”
Hannah Decker, co-owner of Fairfax Perennial Farm Inc., which has done business with Gardener’s Supply for 17 years and sells to four of its locations, is “cautiously optimistic” she will receive the $50,000 she is owed, which she estimates is almost a quarter of the farm’s yearly business.
“The timing of this really sucks … June is for perennials,” she said. “If I don’t have their business going forward with those locations, that’s a quarter of my business right there.”
Gardener’s Supply, founded in 1983, has long been considered a staple Vermont brand. Its employee-ownership model and 20-year streak winning Seven Days’ “Best garden center award” have made it a fixture in the state’s business community.
But in recent years, the company struggled to recover from what it described as the “post-COVID downturn in business,” according to a statement from a company spokesperson. Rising shipping costs, increased competition, tariffs and steep marketing costs were cited as contributing factors.
The company has “partnered with external professionals to strategically restructure its operations,” the spokesperson wrote. “… As a result, AGR [America’s Gardening Resource] has made the decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a planned move to facilitate a transaction with a potential buyer.”
Gardener’s Supply is being represented in the filing by Patrick J. Reilly, who previously represented Tupperware in its bankruptcy filing and subsequent sale. The bankruptcy announcement was first reported by WCAX.
Julie Elmore, a customer who has been shopping at Gardener’s Supply since it opened, said she has valued the company’s dependability.
“They’ve really got an excellent reputation. I know people all over that love to order stuff from Gardener’s Supply cause they have good quality, they have good return policies. … I really respect companies that take care of their workers and that have employees who have ownership in it,” she said.
Morgan Brown, a manager at Gardener’s Williston location, said news of the bankruptcy was sad but that employees were sticking together.
“I would say this is the most Vermont place I’ve ever worked,” she said. “Everybody’s kind of taking [the bankruptcy] together. We’re a community business, everybody knows each other. We’re all very close, so we’re kind of just leaning on our coworkers to make everything, to keep going, we’re business as usual and we’re happy to be here,” she said.
