NOW HAWKIN’ WHAT’S LEFT: SMITH & HAWKEN ARE OUTTA HERE Scotts Miracle-Gro, which bought the Smith & Hawken chain 5 years ago, is uprooting all 56 of the high-end brand’s stores, including one at the edge of River Oaks and another on Six Pines Drive in The Woodlands. “Apparently the expensive garden and really expensive garden store is shutting down. The website is already closed to orders and store liquidations start today. Should be interesting to see what happens to the store next to Ouisie’s Table on San Felipe.” [Swamplot inbox; more from the Houston Business Journal]
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Ooooooohhhh! Sale on yard gnomes!! Really well dress yard gnomes!! Thank you for the tip!
HAHA, good comment Jessica.
Those gnomes better have some Gucci sacks on there back!
This location would be good for a restaurant or another high end boutique store. I think it was hard for them since they weren’t on Westhiemer just a block away.
I thought this was a really cool place, but apparently too many people did what I would do – go in there and wander around but never buy anything. Neat stuff, just too expensive. It also seems that the big box home improvement stores have stepped up their game with regard to outdoor furnishings and the like. Even Target and Wal-Mart have decent stuff these days.
I guess Miracle-Gro doesn’t work for retail establishments.
The lovely S&H outside display furniture will be sorely missed at the Woodlands Market St. location. You could just sit there, people-watching, no waitress bugging you. Kids would hang out in the cushy recliners waiting for their rides. I always thought it was so pleasant & generous that they left the items outside like that… if only they had actually SOLD some of it…
I must be bad luck. I’ve never been in the store, but as I drove by it last week thought “I should check that place out sometime.” Too late!
I drive past that store at least twice a day and, occasionally, I actually go in. They have beautiful merchandise but their staff is about as friendly and helpful as last year’s birdnest. It’s the old “I work in a retail store so fancy that I can’t afford anything in it yet I can still act snobby.” Good riddens.
I went in the Dallas store a few times. It was ridiculously expensive for stuff that was indeed nicer than the usual garden stuff, but not *that* much nicer.
I have to disagree with the comment about the SH staff. They were always helpful to me, and when I went in yesterday a reduced force was plugging away, selling the remaining merchandise while fielding irate calls in the most pleasant manner possible. FYI on the clearance: it’s still at 30% off furniture and 20% of everything else. Not quite a firesale yet.
Thanks LilDebbi – I’ll wait until the firesale, then.
I’ve shopped at S&H in the past – while the prices started off high, they were good on sale.
I am not terribly surprised that they are closing – I noticed that their catalogue definitely looked less “fresh” recently, so I figured something was up.
The S&H staff at the River Oaks store is fabulous, very helpful. I’ll miss the store terribly, it’s the best spot for a quick gift. The staff would fix up a beautiful pot with an orchid, open a box of reindeer moss and give you what they didn’t use. They have unique things and always know what new things are on the next delivery truck. I’ll miss them.