Fifth Season Gardening Co. to close South Slope shop, open warehouse to public

Share
Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

Fifth Season Gardening Co. has announced that it is closing its hydroponics supply shop on Banks Avenue on Asheville’s South Slope on Dec. 23. It will be interesting to see what happens with that location, a hot development spot with Vortex Doughnuts, Catawba Brewing, Buxton Hall Barbecue and Banks Ave. bar all nearby.

In its newsletter announcement, Fifth Season notes the recent development boom on the South Slope as the reason for its decision to close there. You can read the note below.

The company also announced that is will open its warehouse at 21B Westside Drive off of Hazel Mill Road in West Asheville to the public right after the start of the new year.

Asheville sure has changed a lot since we opened our little hydroponics supply store on Banks Avenue 16 years ago, the first in Western North Carolina. For most of those years, we were the only business on the block, and we spent a lot of time answering the questions: “Where are you, again? Banks Avenue? That’s in Asheville?”

We don’t answer those questions anymore. Banks Avenue is in the bustling South Slope, surrounded by bars, breweries, restaurants, and traffic with even more on the way. The area has evolved. It’s busier, louder, and, for better or worse, no longer a good home for our little gardening store. With that in mind, we’ve decided to close the Banks Avenue store at the close of business December 23. Just as the city has evolved, so must we. Thankfully, we’re already on our way.

Last year we opened a giant store in Asheville Market, next to the Whole Foods on Tunnel Road. In addition to the largest selection of indoor gardening products anywhere, we introduced a vast homebrew supply shop, a craft beer bar, a plant nursery, and a whole classroom full of brew-on-premises equipment. People who have been in the hydroponics industry since its early days have told us our store is the best in the industry, unparalleled, like nothing they’ve ever seen. We’re proud of it and want to invite our Banks Avenue customers to come for a visit. Why not stay a while and check our state-of-the-art grow room. We’ll make you a cappuccino!

Of course some of our customers don’t want all that. They want a quiet place to shop away from all the chaos of a busy shopping plaza, a place loaded up with all the indoor gardening products, pallets of soils, big bags of fertilizers, and everything else they might need – a place like Banks Avenue before the South Slope. So, for the first time in our history, we will be opening up our West Asheville warehouse to the public. Located at 21B Westside Drive, our warehouse store will focus on indoor gardening customers of all sizes, big soil buyers, and our loyal farm customers. We plan to have this location open for regular hours shortly after the New Year. Check the website for details.

Yes we’re sorry to see our Banks Avenue store go, Asheville’s indoor and organic gardening trailblazer for 16 years, and our home. But that sadness can’t compare to the incredible excitement over where we’re headed, our big beautiful store on Tunnel Road and our old school West Asheville warehouse. No matter which Fifth Season you prefer, we look forward to serving you for many years to come.

We hope you’ll stop by and see us before we close the Banks Avenue store for good at 6pm on December 23rd.

 

Tags::
Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

You Might also Like

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Stories