Richmond-based Evergreen Enterprises has its headquarters, a showroom and distribution facility at 5915 Midlothian Turnpike in Richmond. (Jack Jacobs photo)
A long-running Richmond retailer has largely shifted out of the brick-and-mortar game to focus on other ways to sell the flags and decor for which it’s known.
Evergreen Enterprises has trimmed the store count of its Plow & Hearth retail chain down to three as it reorients itself more fully toward direct-to-consumer and wholesale operations. At its height, Plow & Hearth had 26 stores.
Among the Plow & Hearth locations that have closed was the Short Pump outpost, which shuttered in January.
“We have been systematically closing retail across the Mid-Atlantic. This isn’t a referendum on Short Pump; the strategy has been moving away from physical retail,” said Evergreen CEO John Toler.
The remaining Plow & Hearth stores are a shop in James City County near Williamsburg, as well as an outlet store and the so-called country store, which are both about a 40-minute drive north of Charlottesville.
John Toler
The shrunken retail footprint isn’t the only change for Plow & Hearth. Evergreen is underway on efforts to fully absorb that subsidiary, which had operated as a separate company under Evergreen’s umbrella since Evergreen acquired the chain in 2011.
The decision was made two years ago to merge the companies, to make the overall operation more efficient and streamline the work of shipping products to customers.
Evergreen, which sells and wholesales flags, home and garden goods and furniture, has its distribution operations split between its Richmond home base and Plow & Hearth’s distribution center in Madison.
The Plow & Hearth brand is planned to continue to exist.
“It’s more a shifting of focus,” Toler said. “We want to do more of the digital and catalog. We’re committed to our retail brands but not in the form of retail stores.”
As part of the project to bring Plow & Hearth further under the Evergreen banner, Evergreen is renovating its headquarters, showroom and warehouse facility at 5915 Midlothian Turnpike. The project includes improvements to the shipping and packaging areas as well as refreshing office space at the company’s 250,000-square-foot campus.
About 20,000 square feet of that total is existing offices being turned into warehouse space, and when the project is done Evergreen will have 180,000 square feet of distribution space there, Toler said.
Toler described the headquarters project as a “significant investment” on the scale of “several” million dollars but declined to provide a more specific figure. The facilities project, which includes updated robotic picking equipment, started a little over a year ago. It’s expected to be completed in early 2024.
The headquarters property is owned by an LLC tied to Evergreen founder and chairwoman Ting Xu.
Evergreen has also added more local warehouse space to its distribution footprint in the last couple years. In 2022, the company inked leases on a 117,000-square-foot space at 14174 N. Washington Highway in Ashland and a 109,000-square-foot space at 1505-1507 Robin Hood Road in Richmond. The year before, it leased 71,500 square feet at 1700 Richmond Highway in Richmond.
Toler said those facilities were secured to allow Evergreen to stockpile inventory during a challenging period for the global supply chain and amid heightened demand from customers. He said that while Evergreen’s supply chain problems and demand has cooled, the company is hanging onto the facilities for the time being.
“As supply chains have normalized and as demand has come down people aren’t buying patio furniture as much,” Toler said. “Like all retailers, we’re trying to read the tea leaves on where this is going.”
The company also has warehouse facilities at 2300 Richmond Highway in Richmond and 2400 Elliham Ave. in Chesterfield, both of which are owned by LLCs tied to Xu.
Evergreen Enterprises sells flags, home goods and furniture. (Photo courtesy of Evergreen Enterprises)
Toler said Evergreen’s major wholesale customers include Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. The company also sells to 15,000 small retailers, including local stores Strange’s Florist and The Great Big Greenhouse.
The company manufactures its products in China. Evergreen has showrooms in Ningbo, China and in Atlanta, Georgia.
Evergreen was launched in 1993 and has more than 500 employees.
The now-closed Short Pump location of Plow & Hearth opened in 2004. Its former space is now occupied by a Rockler Woodworking and Hardware.
Richmond-based Evergreen Enterprises has its headquarters, a showroom and distribution facility at 5915 Midlothian Turnpike in Richmond. (Jack Jacobs photo)
A long-running Richmond retailer has largely shifted out of the brick-and-mortar game to focus on other ways to sell the flags and decor for which it’s known.
Evergreen Enterprises has trimmed the store count of its Plow & Hearth retail chain down to three as it reorients itself more fully toward direct-to-consumer and wholesale operations. At its height, Plow & Hearth had 26 stores.
Among the Plow & Hearth locations that have closed was the Short Pump outpost, which shuttered in January.
“We have been systematically closing retail across the Mid-Atlantic. This isn’t a referendum on Short Pump; the strategy has been moving away from physical retail,” said Evergreen CEO John Toler.
The remaining Plow & Hearth stores are a shop in James City County near Williamsburg, as well as an outlet store and the so-called country store, which are both about a 40-minute drive north of Charlottesville.
John Toler
The shrunken retail footprint isn’t the only change for Plow & Hearth. Evergreen is underway on efforts to fully absorb that subsidiary, which had operated as a separate company under Evergreen’s umbrella since Evergreen acquired the chain in 2011.
The decision was made two years ago to merge the companies, to make the overall operation more efficient and streamline the work of shipping products to customers.
Evergreen, which sells and wholesales flags, home and garden goods and furniture, has its distribution operations split between its Richmond home base and Plow & Hearth’s distribution center in Madison.
The Plow & Hearth brand is planned to continue to exist.
“It’s more a shifting of focus,” Toler said. “We want to do more of the digital and catalog. We’re committed to our retail brands but not in the form of retail stores.”
As part of the project to bring Plow & Hearth further under the Evergreen banner, Evergreen is renovating its headquarters, showroom and warehouse facility at 5915 Midlothian Turnpike. The project includes improvements to the shipping and packaging areas as well as refreshing office space at the company’s 250,000-square-foot campus.
About 20,000 square feet of that total is existing offices being turned into warehouse space, and when the project is done Evergreen will have 180,000 square feet of distribution space there, Toler said.
Toler described the headquarters project as a “significant investment” on the scale of “several” million dollars but declined to provide a more specific figure. The facilities project, which includes updated robotic picking equipment, started a little over a year ago. It’s expected to be completed in early 2024.
The headquarters property is owned by an LLC tied to Evergreen founder and chairwoman Ting Xu.
Evergreen has also added more local warehouse space to its distribution footprint in the last couple years. In 2022, the company inked leases on a 117,000-square-foot space at 14174 N. Washington Highway in Ashland and a 109,000-square-foot space at 1505-1507 Robin Hood Road in Richmond. The year before, it leased 71,500 square feet at 1700 Richmond Highway in Richmond.
Toler said those facilities were secured to allow Evergreen to stockpile inventory during a challenging period for the global supply chain and amid heightened demand from customers. He said that while Evergreen’s supply chain problems and demand has cooled, the company is hanging onto the facilities for the time being.
“As supply chains have normalized and as demand has come down people aren’t buying patio furniture as much,” Toler said. “Like all retailers, we’re trying to read the tea leaves on where this is going.”
The company also has warehouse facilities at 2300 Richmond Highway in Richmond and 2400 Elliham Ave. in Chesterfield, both of which are owned by LLCs tied to Xu.
Evergreen Enterprises sells flags, home goods and furniture. (Photo courtesy of Evergreen Enterprises)
Toler said Evergreen’s major wholesale customers include Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. The company also sells to 15,000 small retailers, including local stores Strange’s Florist and The Great Big Greenhouse.
The company manufactures its products in China. Evergreen has showrooms in Ningbo, China and in Atlanta, Georgia.
Evergreen was launched in 1993 and has more than 500 employees.
The now-closed Short Pump location of Plow & Hearth opened in 2004. Its former space is now occupied by a Rockler Woodworking and Hardware.