Smith Garden Center, headquartered in Macomb, IL is one of the largest ornamental concrete producing and distributing companies in the U.S. Owned by brothers Justin and Brandon Smith, Smith Garden Center employs nearly 30 personnel in their production, distribution, and marketing efforts. Growing up, Justin and Brandon both had similar interests in staying busy and a love for the outdoors. They spent many hours after school and on the weekends lending a helping hand to their parents’ family operated greenhouse.
BRANDON SMITH President
After graduating high school, I took a position with a local landscaping company. After a couple years, I branched out on my own and opened a garden center in Monmouth, IL. Somewhere along the way a traveling salesman introduced me to these small concrete plaques with sayings on them. These plaques caught my attention, sold well at my retail location, and soon after I purchased a few molds from him and a little bit of knowledge. Over the next couple years, I found myself transitioning from operating a garden center to pouring more and more concrete plaques. I began distributing these plaques and statues from the back of my truck to other local retailers. A couple years went by and a new business was born.
Justin Vice President
After High School, I attended Augustana College focusing on attaining my degree in Biology and worked for just over 5 years at an environmental consulting firm. One day in my office, my phone rang and out of the blue I was propositioned to relocate back to Macomb, IL to become a self-employed business owner producing concrete lawn ornaments. I sat on it for about a week, but the urge overcame me and within a month I was moving on to a new career.
Smith Garden Center, Inc.
We joined together in November 2007 and created Smith Garden Center. We moved all operations from Brandon’s garage into our production facility in Macomb, IL. We hired a couple of our close friends and started hitting the pavement. Smith Garden Center has continued to grow steadily and here we are today.
We have excelled in business by appealing to both Florist and Garden Centers, big and small, with what we refer to as smaller sympathy and hobby-related or gift-sized statues that appeal to the masses. Our products are cast from the latest, most highly-detailed molds with a unique aged and colored finish that has the stability and longevity of concrete with the detail of resin. The size of our statues is key since we focus on pieces that can be handled by almost everyone from our delivery personnel, to your employees, and ultimately your retail customers.
A couple other perks about our company include the free shipping, payment terms available, and ease of ordering including calling or faxing in your orders, full functioning website, and occasionally purchasing product directly from our delivery fleet. Our customers also appreciate our low start-up and minimum order requirements that enable your company to grow with us. We are proud to have helped build Smith Garden Center into the rapidly growing company with a proven history that is represented today and would like to say Thank You to our existing customers for learning a little about us and to potential customers out there, we look forward to partnering with you for a long-term business relationship.
