Longtime Columbia garden center expands to new part of the city
Much like many of the plants they sell, Columbia’s Gardener’s Outpost is growing.
For nearly 10 years, Gardener’s Outpost has had a popular location on Woodrow Street in the capital city’s Shandon neighborhood. Now the business has opened a second spot, at 1211 Franklin St., just off north Main Street.
The new Gardener’s Outpost location officially opened its doors on Jan. 31. It is in the Cottontown neighborhood right next door to The War Mouth restaurant and just around the corner from Indah Coffee, Il Focolare pizzeria and a coming Pelican’s SnoBalls location.
Co-owner Carol Isherwood said the spot on Franklin Street felt right for an additional Gardener’s Outpost shop.
“Since this is our second location, we wanted to keep that same neighborhood feel,” Isherwood told The State when a reporter visited the Franklin Street shop. “We love it. We have three great neighborhoods nearby.”
Gardener’s Outpost sells inside and outside plants, trees, organic and heirloom vegetables, as well as home decor items and various products for lawn and plant care. A small greenhouse is being constructed behind the Franklin Street location, which was formerly home to an auto body shop.
Isherwood said the Franklin Street location has a license to sell beer and wine and is planning to utilize a “sip and shop” concept.
She said Gardener’s Outpost will stick with some of its tried-and-true philosophies at the new location.
“Our specialty is really working with sustainable practices, organic plants,” Isherwood said. “We mix a lot of our own soils here for our plants. The soil is the base for everything when it comes to a plant. If you have the wrong soil, you are not going to have the right water retention. We really pay attention to those details.”
Isherwood said she’s enthused about being able to set up an additional Gardener’s Outpost after having established the Shandon shop almost 10 years ago.
“It’s exciting, because we get to spread out a little bit more,” she said. “We get to to be two neighborhood garden centers instead of just one neighborhood garden center. That’s the fun part of it. We’ve got some loyal customers and we’ve created some strong relationships.”
The Franklin Street Gardener’s Outpost is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 10:10 AM.
