Landscapers make a garden center grow
STRATFORD — A local landscaping company looking for room to grow has turned a former Honeyspot Road machine shop into a new garden center.
Shannon Landscape and Garden Center, at 1111 Honeyspot Road, has been open for the past two weeks and held a ribbon- cutting late last week to celebrate the company’s expansion to retail.
The business is an outgrowth of Shannon Lawn and Landscaping, which Mike Shannon began in the 1980s after graduating from high school.
His brother, John, joined the business after college, and his wife, Christine, handles the company’s marketing and financials. All were born and raised in Stratford.
The business now has 35 employees and more than 2,000 customers.
The company rented yard space at the Honeyspot Road property across from UPS when the site was a machine shop operated by Erickson Industries.
Mike Shannon said he had planted the seed with the company’s last president, Don Erickson, that he’d be willing to take over the property, so when Erickson decided to retire last year, he was ready to make a commitment to put down deeper roots.
“I always kind of hinted that we wanted to buy the property,” Shannon said. “We ended up closing ( at) the end of January.”
The purchase price was $ 1.26 million, according to town land records.
“We made the move here to house our landscaping company, and we also felt it would be good for the community to open a garden center, to showcase our designs and give do- it- yourselfers a little more knowledge than big box stores,” Shannon said.
As industry trends go, people being homebound during the COVID- 19 pandemic meant garden centers had a good year.
Almost too good, given the subsequent effect on supplies.
“People were home last year and did a lot more planting, so now, to try to get certain materials, it’s just so hard to bring stuff in because people got overwhelmed,” Shannon said. “But we’re doing our best to source what we can.”
He thanked local officials for helping to smooth the company’s expansion into retail, specifically Mayor Laura Hoydick and Economic Development Director Mary Dean.
“The whole town’s been great as far as the permitting process and zoning,” Shannon said. “People were bending over backwards to help us out here, so we couldn’t thank them enough.”
His daughter, an architect, designed the facility, he said.
After a ceremonial ribbon- cutting to welcome the business, the mayor said she knew the Shannons from when she was a commercial property manager at Stationhouse Square.
“They were our landscapers,” Hoydick said. “We won a commercial beautification award because they had done such nice work. I love these guys.”
“It’s a whole family affair,” the mayor said. “They’ve been involved in this community for so long — I love the fact that they keep giving back.”
Others on hand included state Reps. Joe Gresko and Phil Young, and Town Council members Chris Pia and Bill O’Brien.