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Southern Garden Centers (SGC) recently announced that Hutto’s Home and Garden Center in Jackson, Mississippi, has joined the Southern Garden Centers family of independent garden centers as its founding location. Hutto’s will continue to operate under the Hutto’s name at its current location with the same team.
The transaction gives Hutto’s access to Southern Garden Centers’ capital, purchasing scale, technology
and operating infrastructure, while preserving the local ownership feel, product knowledge and customer service that have made the store a fixture of the Jackson community for nearly six decades.
After decades of family ownership, the Hutto family chose to work with Southern Garden Centers to ensure the business has the resources it needs to continue growing for the long term. SGC’s investment will support upgrades to the store’s inventory systems, point-of-sale technology and facilities, expanded purchasing power with growers and suppliers and career advancement opportunities for the Hutto’s team.
“Hutto’s is exactly the kind of business Southern Garden Centers was built to support,” says Don Bingham III, managing partner of Southern Garden Centers. “For nearly 60 years, this store has earned the trust of central Mississippi gardeners through great product, deep knowledge and real relationships. Our job is not to change that. Our job is to bring the capital, systems and support that let the Hutto’s team focus on customers while we take care of the rest. We are honored the Hutto family chose us as the stewards of the next chapter.”
“My family has poured everything into this store since 1968, and our customers are like family to us,” says Billy Hutto, owner of Hutto’s Home and Garden Center. “When it came time to think about the future, we wanted a company that understood what Hutto’s means to this community and who had the resources to help it grow without losing what makes it special. Southern Garden Centers shares our values, and I am confident that with their support, Hutto’s will remain a staple of Jackson for generations to come.”
Hutto’s is the founding location of the Southern Garden Centers platform, which is focused on partnering with established, family-owned garden centers across the Southeast. Southern Garden Centers will provide each store with shared services, capital for growth and a long-term commitment to preserving the local identity that makes independent garden centers irreplaceable in their communities.
Customers can expect the same hours, the same dedicated customer support team and the same Hutto’s experience they know. Additional investments in the store will be rolled out over the coming months.
