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Willow Run Cresskill To Close
Willow Run in Cresskill, a family business which dates back to the 1930s, is under contract to be sold and will likely close by the spring. Gardening aficionados will have an even harder time finding a place to buy flowers and shrubs in Bergen County as the third generation Cresskill based garden center joins the roster of such businesses giving way to development.
Glenn Pendergast, the owner of the Willow Run nursery, said he is the third generation in his family to work in the family-owned and -operated business. But he added that anyone devoted to a small business has seen the economy over the past six years and understands that garden centers such as his have been struggling.
Longtime customer Alice Comber, 65, said she has been coming to Willow Run since she was a child. “My mom used to take me every year. I had two children. I brought them. Now I have a granddaughter,” Comber said. “It’s tradition…every season we come to Willow Run.” Apparently that loyal customer is in a shrinking demographic.
Pendergast said he sees a generational shift.
“Our society today is so time-focused that the thought of spending an hour outside in your yard weeding or planting flowers is just foreign to a lot of younger people,” Pendergast said. “There are young people who love to garden but the vast majority of young people have other interests than spending time out in the yard.”
“In Bergen County, as you sit on valuable property, it becomes economically unfeasible to be a garden center,” he concluded, “especially if someone comes in with an offer you can’t refuse.”
“Many issues led to our decision to finally sell, Pendergast declined to divulge the identity of a developer with whom he is in contract with and would not reveal the asking sale price for his property, but he added that on an emotional basis, “it’s going to be challenging [to sell it], that’s for sure.”
Town homes will likely be built on the property.