Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery

What Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery does

Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery is a family-owned retail garden center founded in 1977 and located at 2051 Huguenot Road in Richmond, Virginia. The company operates as a single-location retail and nursery business serving the greater Richmond Metropolitan area, with approximately 22+ employees. It is part of the Meadows Farms Garden Centers network, which has locations across Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Washington D.C.

The company's core product offering includes trees and shrubs, fresh houseplants, annuals, hanging baskets, mulch, soil and compost, landscaping stone, FoxFarm soils and fertilizers, and Proven Winners branded plants, alongside gifts and home decor. Service offerings include landscape design and installation, lawn and garden care, mosquito and tick control, and the weekly Huguenot-Robious Farmers Outdoor Market. Digital tools include a Plant Finder Tool and a Mulch Calculator. The company also provides expert horticultural advisory through its long-tenured staff, including Master Gardeners.

Revenue is generated through direct-to-consumer retail sales (one-time purchases of plants and garden supplies), professional landscaping services, and transaction fees from the farmers market. The go-to-market motion is predominantly physical retail storefront, supplemented by an online shop at shop.meadowsfarms.com, a VIP email signup program for promotions, content marketing through a gardening blog, and community events such as workshops. Customer segments are individual homeowners and residential property owners seeking plants, garden supplies, expert advice, and landscape services for home gardening and outdoor living projects.

Name

Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery

Legal name

Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery

Website

https://greatbiggreenhouse.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery is a family-owned retail garden center in Richmond, Virginia, established in 1977. It sells plants, garden supplies, gifts, and home decor, and offers landscaping and pest control services as part of the Meadows Farms network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Retail Garden Center & Plant Nursery

NAICS

Nursery, Garden Center, and Farm Supply Retailers (444240), Nursery, Garden Center, and Farm Supply Retailers (44424)

SIC

Retail-Building Materials, Hardware, Garden Supply (5200)

akta.pro primary industry

Plants, Seeds & Nursery Retail (Garden Centers) (CRAIAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Soils, Mulch, Fertilizers & Lawn Care Chemicals Retail (CRAIAIAC), Seasonal Color, Planting & Horticultural Services (BPABADAL)

Keywords

• Retail garden center
• Plant nursery
• Landscape design
• Gardening supplies
• Home landscaping

Headquarters

HQ city

Richmond

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Retail Plant Sales: In-store sales of trees, shrubs, houseplants, annuals, hanging baskets, and other plants to consumer customers
2. Garden Supplies & Hard Goods: Sales of mulch, soil, compost, landscaping stone, fertilizers, and garden tools
3. Gifts & Home Decor: Sales of gifts, home decorating items, and outdoor furniture
4. Landscaping Services: Landscape design and installation services through Meadows Farms
5. Farmers Market: Huguenot-Robious Farmers Outdoor Market operating Thursdays 10am-2pm featuring local vendors

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Family-owned retail garden center selling trees, shrubs, houseplants, annuals, hanging baskets, mulch, soil, compost, landscaping stone, fertilizers, gifts, and home décor. Operates as part of the Meadows Farms Garden Centers network serving the greater Richmond, Virginia Metropolitan area from its location at 2051 Huguenot Road, Richmond, VA 23235 since 1977.

Product overview

Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery is a family-owned retail garden center operating as part of the Meadows Farms network, offering a unified portfolio of plant products and gardening services. The core product line includes Trees and Shrubs, Fresh Houseplants, Annuals, Hanging Baskets, Mulch/Soil/Compost, Landscaping Stone, and FoxFarm soils and fertilizers alongside Proven Winners branded plants. Services encompass Landscape Design & Installation, Lawn & Garden Care, Mosquito & Tick Control, and the weekly Huguenot-Robious Farmer's Market. Digital tools include a Plant Finder Tool and Mulch Calculator. The company serves the greater Richmond, Virginia metropolitan area from its location at 2051 Huguenot Road, Richmond, VA 23235.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Burpee: Direct-to-consumer online seed and live plant retailer with national reach. Represents the digital-native competitor encroaching on traditional garden center plant sales via e-commerce.

Broad incumbents

• Lowe's: National home improvement chain operating seasonal garden centers with plants, soils, and outdoor products. Adjacent incumbent with overlapping product categories but a much broader non-garden assortment.
• The Home Depot: National home improvement retailer with extensive garden center assortments including live plants, soils, mulch, and tools. Competes with GBGH on price, SKU breadth, and convenience across the commodity portion of the basket.

Others

• Proven Winners: Plant brand cooperative producing branded annuals, perennials, and shrubs sold through independent garden centers. Ecosystem enabler — Great Big Greenhouse explicitly carries Proven Winners as a premium assortment.
• Monrovia: Wholesale nursery grower supplying branded premium plants to independent garden centers including the Meadows Farms network. Ecosystem participant — supplies the differentiated plant SKUs that GBGH retails.

Direct peers

• Pike Nurseries: Regional garden center chain serving the Atlanta metro and broader Southeast, offering plants, landscaping services, and seasonal décor. Closely mirrors GBGH's combined retail-plus-services model in a different regional market.
• Armstrong Garden Centers: Family-owned regional garden center chain across California with full plant assortments, landscape design, and gift/home categories. Comparable as a multi-store independent operator with strong horticultural expertise and service attach.
• Homestead Gardens: Mid-Atlantic independent garden center and nursery offering plants, landscaping, pond/water-garden services, and home décor. Operates in an overlapping regional footprint with similar full-service positioning.
• Sloat Garden Center: Multi-location independent garden center serving the San Francisco Bay Area with plants, landscape design, and gift assortments. Comparable independent garden center chain model with strong local brand equity.
• Meadows Farms Garden Centers: Parent operating company of Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery, running 17+ garden center locations across Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. with the same product mix, services, and brand standards — directly comparable in format, assortment, and customer base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery