Smith & Hawken to Close by December

Smith & Hawken will be closing all 56 retail stores nationwide, including one on Elm Street.

Scott's Miracle Grow, the gardening store's parent corporation, has announced plans to shutter Smith & Hawken due to lagging sales and weak national economic conditions. According to a spokeswoman for Scott's, the parent corporation has spent several months studying options for the gardening store and decided closure of the subsidiary was the best option, instead of closing down parts of the company or selling the company to another firm. The Westfield location has been open since October 2002.

Smith & Hawken specializes in luxury outdoor furniture, grills and other gardening-related products. The company has locations in 22 states and the District of Columbia. On Thursday the company started liquidation sales for all the stores and e-commerce operations on the company's Web site ended on Wednesday. Scott's expects the liquidation to go through December. Discounts on items will increase as the year progresses in order to empty the stores and the warehouse. Items in the Westfield store were seen at discounts of up to 30-percent on Thursday.

Smith & Hawken employees will be offered severance packages as a part of the shutdown process. It is not known when the Westfield store will be closed. A final date for the Westfield location will be decided by corporate officials after a study of remaining inventory and the liquidation process. It is not known what will happen to the Elm Street building, which is leased by Smith & Hawken. It is unclear how many of the Westfield store's employees live in town, which could add to the town's five and a half percent unemployment rate.

Downtown Westfield Corporation Director Sherry Cronin said the store has contributed to downtown activities during it's almost seven years in Westfield. This has included participating in DWC activities including sidewalk sales and Halloween. The store offered deep discounts for community groups purchasing benches for the downtown, along with donating to various projects including the Korean War Memorial.

"It's a terrible thing," Cronin said. "We are all upset about it. They have been a great partner in the downtown."

Cronin expressed hoped that a new gardening store could be recruited into Westfield to take Smith & Hawken's place. She noted that she had heard the Westfield location has been doing a strong business.

The decision to close Smith & Hawken was greeted by shock from customers using the store on Wednesday afternoon. Customers recalled the customer service from the Westfield location and the quality of the outdoor furniture from the store.

"I think it's the saddest thing," said one customer who declined to provide her name. "There will never be another Smith & Hawken. They have taste, discernment and beautiful things."