All summer long we were under construction. We really appreciate our customers' patience. Jeff Griff
Business is blooming at the oldest retail operation in Bainbridge Township.
Despite a cool, wet summer, a 7,000-square-foot addition to Lowe’s Greenhouses has sprung up on the south side of the family business.
It is just the first phase of a major revamping of the popular store on Chillicothe Road just north of East Washington Street, said owner Jeff Griff.
“We’re trying to create a better shopping experience,” he said last Monday.
The two additional greenhouses that appear to mirror the two on the north side of the central enclosed gift shop provide more covered shopping area and help protect plants and displays from the driving rain, Griff said.
“Phase Two will be to expand the gift shop,” he said, adding it will include adding a parking lot south of the new greenhouses and reorienting the operation so customers come in from the south, through the new greenhouses, instead of the east side of the building.
The current parking lot on the east side will become a sales area filled with inventory, Griff said.
When the plans gelled last winter, he expected to have the concrete floors in the greenhouses and the blacktop walkways done by April.
Mother Nature had a different, much colder, agenda, he said.
Although they had figured on doing a lot of the excavating and even pouring the concrete during warmer winter breaks, the warmer days never occurred and project delays ensued. The walkways weren’t blacktopped until August.
“All summer long we were under construction,” Griff said, adding the handy wagons customers usually fill with colorful annual and perennial plants weren’t much good in the gravel laid down as a base for the pavement.
“We really appreciate our customers’ patience,”?he said.
But customers persisted and now, with the perennial fall planting season in full swing, transporting goods from shelves to the check-out counter is much improved, Griff said.
Besides relocating the parking lot, the gift shop will be opened up and customers will enjoy the central open mall area any time of year, he said.
The Griff family ownership of the 12 acres goes back to World War I when his grandfather and great uncle bought the business from Carlton Lowe of Chagrin Falls.
Carlton had been in Belgium during the war and discovered the lovely tuberous begonias, Griff said. He started growing the begonias in the Bainbridge greenhouse and discovered there was a significant market for the plants all around the country.
“He started one of the first mail-order greenhouses in the country,” Griff said, giving Lowe’s a place in the township’s history, in addition to its longevity.
“It’s the longest-standing retail business in Bainbridge,” he said.
Griff’s office is in part of the original barn and stable, up a flight of worn, wooden stairs. The new construction doesn’t include a fancy corner office for the owner.
Office space doesn’t sell flowers, he said.
No matter that the new addition is in business a bit late in the season — Griff figures it will pay for itself even after the snow flies.
“We’ll be able to sell our Christmas trees under cover,” he said.
For more information or to learn about Lowe’s upcoming events, such as the classic car show and ladies’ night in October at 16540 Chillicothe Rd., go to www.LowesGreenhouse.com or call 440-543-5123.
