Lexington Gardens Celebrates 30 Years

With New Design Services

By Kaaren Valenta

When Tom Johnson first saw Lexington Gardens under construction in Newtown 30 years ago, he looked around at the largely rural setting and asked, “Why did they decide to build here –– there’s nobody here.”

At the time, Lexington Gardens was meant to be the pilot store in a nationwide chain owned by the Campbell Soup Company and managed through its Pepperidge Farm division. Tom Johnson, a food technologist with Pepperidge Farm in Norwalk, was the assistant manager of the Newtown store when it opened in June of 1973 on Church Hill Road. Six months later he became the manager.

Both Newtown and Lexington Gardens have changed over the years, but Tom Johnson has stayed, first buying the Newtown business in 1983 when Campbell Soup decided sell its free-standing Lexington Garden garden centers and its Potting Shed mall stores. This year he bought the five acres that the garden center sits on, ending the long-term lease.

Mr Johnson expanded the garden center, which originally consisted of only a greenhouse, seasonal nursery plants, and horticultural supplies. A 3,500-square-foot addition was constructed to house the floral and gift shop and the gourmet shop. Later, the large seasonal Christmas shop became an annual tradition.

“Overall, we look for very unique items that other stores do not carry,” Mr Johnson said. “Our buyers spend a fair number of days on the road, buying eight to nine months ahead of when the items appear in the store. Right now all the Christmas buying is done and it is starting to come in.”

Mr Johnson said he has been fortunate to have a very talented staff that most recently was expanded to include Jackie Shea, a designer who recently moved back to Newtown. Mrs Shea is taking Lexington Gardens a step further, by offering design services in the home.

“I moved to New Jersey because my husband, Kevin, took a new job, but we came back because he was transferred to the corporate office in Greenwich,” Ms Shea explained. “I had been doing interior decorating out of my home since 1994 –– I was trained by Transdesigns –– and had built up a good business by word of mouth.”

She had worked at Lexington Gardens, doing silk and dried flower arrangements, but when she came back she was ready to offer a more comprehensive service focusing around an upscale designer look.

“I am very versatile,” she said. “There are a lot of different tastes out there. I get excited when I’m in someone’s house and I see possibilities. Sometimes people just need a little help. Sometimes they put the rugs down and get stuck.”

Ms Shea said that when she meets with a client, she sits down and talks with them about what they like, how they live, and their favorite colors. “I am able to combine design skills and floral skills in a very personal service,” she said.

She often strives for a layering effect, which customizes the look for the client. “I don’t just plunk down a floral arrangement. I provide help with color, help with developing focus points in a room,” she said.

The design fee is $50 for an hour in the client’s home, but $25 of that goes toward the purchase of floral items and accessories. Ms Shea is currently available at Lexington Gardens on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 5 or by appointment. “We will be expanding the hours and services as we get closer to Christmas,” she said, “when we will add outside and inside Christmas design. I’m also doing more weddings and commercial projects.”

Jackie Shea frequently works with Lexington Gardens buyer Jacqui Wiggins to create displays in the store such as the tropical rainforest display near the front checkout. “We’re really a good team,” Ms Shea said. “I’m excited to be back in such a creative atmosphere.”

Lexington Gardens has a staff of 15 full-time employees and 35–40 part-time and seasonal employees.

“I’ve seen a lot of Newtown High School kids, 15 to 18 years old, come through here [as employees] over the years, grow up and come back later with their children,” Mr Johnson said. “Mike Kearns was one of the first employees and he still works here part-time. Most people who come to work here tend to stay.”

Mr Johnson said the store has a staff that is trained in knowing how to care for plants using the least amount of chemicals.

“We try to find other ways,” he said. “Some plants have very specific insects that appear only one time in the year. We never tell people they should broadcast spray.”

Lexington Gardens was built as a large store and was expanded to total 18,000 square feet in both building and greenhouse. Eventually four stores would be constructed, all on five-acre properties located near major intersections. The stores were sold in an employee buy-out in 1983.

“It would be very difficult to duplicate this store today because of the cost,” Mr Johnson said. “There are very few large specialty places anymore.”

In the beginning the store was very seasonal, very weather-related, he said. By expanding it into other areas, he was able to keep a more consistent level of business and employment year-around.

Tom Johnson graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in food technology and earned an MBA at the University of Bridgeport. He was working for Pepperidge Farm when Campbell Soup bought the original store and concept of Lexington Gardens from the namesake store in Lexington, Mass. Just like food product development, the garden center gave him the opportunity to try something different.

“Fifty percent of the products that we carry in the store are different than what we started with,” Mr Johnson said. “Gardening has changed too to reflect changing lifestyles. At one time there were larger gardens, vegetable gardens, because people had more time. Now there is less time and more problems with deer and other animals. Now there are more flower gardens and ornamental gardens and container gardening.”

The drought last year and the wet weather this year have had an impact on all growers, both commercial growers and hobbyists, he said. “Some growers have had to replant crops like basil, cucumbers, and dill. A lot of annuals have been thrown out because they couldn’t be planted. This is not an easy area to garden in.”

In the winter weather he has been known to sleep in the store, stretched out on bags of seed, to keep an eye on the heat. Last winter he slept there four times.

“If the glass greenhouses didn’t have heat, they would start to freeze up in a half hour,” he explained.

Tom Johnson lives in Weston with his wife Carol, who works part-time in the store as did their daughters, now grown. Kendra is a child psychologist working with disadvantaged children in the Boston area; Dara is a ballerina with the New York City Ballet.

“[Weston is] where I sleep, this is my home,” Mr Johnson said, gesturing around the store. “It’s a pretty much all-consuming job.”