Pictured from left- Becca Clark/Store Manager, Gail Fenton/Store owner, Josh Lowder/Store Antique, Wendy Mitchell/Store Manager
BY MIKE PETTINELLA
For Video News Service
One big, happy family.
That’s what Gail Fenton is promising the public will experience when they visit Fenton’s Bloom & Basket, the new name for Pudgie’s Lawn & Garden at 3646 W. Main Street Rd., Batavia.
Fenton and her husband, Paul, purchased Pudgie’s – which served the area since 1998 – from owner Dan Riner and opened for business on Thursday.
The Fentons, longtime growers based on Pratt Road, said they intend to add to what Pudgie’s offered while leaning on the former business’ employees to ensure a successful operation.
“Pudgy has always grown great flowers, great hanging baskets, all that stuff,” Fenton said during an interview with Video News Service. “Over at our farm — at our greenhouses on Pratt Road — we’ve grown the same thing, but never the quantity they did. And they’ve never really done produce up here.
“So we thought what a great thing to add the produce with all of the plants and flowers and everything because you’re right on the main road.”
The Fentons have farmed for 40 years and have sold their produce on a regular basis to farmer’s markets in East Aurora and Batavia.
“We know how to do the whole farmers market thing,” Fenton said. “So, with the (their) collaboration and ours, what a great fit, they’re going to teach me what they know. I’m going to teach them what we know about produce, and we’re going to be one big happy family.”
FENTON: SEE IT AS PUDGIE’S-PLUS
Fenton said she and her husband have been friends with Reiner for years and want to continue the tradition that Pudgie’s established – and then some.
“Our goal is for people to walk in and say, ‘Wow, look how much more they have to offer here. Everything Pudgie had, plus. We wanted that wow factor.”
She said Fenton’s will offer greeting cards, plants, flowers, produce, hanging tomato and strawberry plants, herbs, bird feed, hanging baskets, Christmas trees – a one-stop shop, so to speak.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Fenton said members of the Pudgie’s staff will continue to work there, providing valuable assistance to the new owners.
“The nice thing is they’re all staying so that was a much easier transition for us. We didn’t have to try to figure everything out on it. I would have never known how they do all the ordering,” she said. “They’re pretty much going to still do that.”
PUDGIE’S MANAGER STAYING ON
Fenton said she is thankful that Deb Lynch, Pudgie’s manager for 30 years, has agreed to stay on.
“She will help me figure out how to do the ordering. I’ve done it on a small scale for us, but I don’t know all the varieties,” she said. “Deb was Pudgie’s assistant. She would come here every morning and get the money and take it to the bank and oversee these guys. And then plus she had to oversee the other businesses that Pudgy had. And it was just getting to be too much for her.”
Calling the transaction “a great deal for us,” Fenton shared how she and her husband pondered how they were going to make up for reduced revenue due to a slower-than-expected farmer’s market in East Aurora.
“We sat down one night and wondered what we were going to do. We couldn’t figure out something that night, but a week later, Deb pulls in the driveway, and it says, “Hey, you guys want to buy a greenhouse?”
The asking price turned out be too good to pass up, she said.
“We live two minutes from here. So, it was a great deal for bringing stuff back and forth. It just all fell into place,” Fenton recalled.
VARIETY OF PRODUCE AND CLASSES, TOO
The business also will offer classes led by Fenton’s daughter, Kelsey Morgan.
“She’s doing a spooky fairy garden class on October 15th that filled up in two days,” Fenton said, adding that other classes will be scheduled throughout the year.
Fenton said they will have a variety of produce to sell, including winter squash, broccoli, larger quantities of potatoes and “some different stuff like a roasted medley mix where you can buy a container that’s already got purple cauliflower, orange, white, Romanesco, Brussel sprouts. There’s a recipe on there. You take it home, put it in the oven and roast it.”
Fenton’s is preparing for a fall festival on Oct. 18-19, an event featuring an ice cream truck, bakery company and much more.
In closing, Fenton – no stranger to long hours of manual labor — said she appreciates the opportunity to serve the community in a new way and to transition into retirement.
“This is the perfect retirement. It’s not going to kill me to work up here and run this,” she said. “Like Paul says, ‘We will expire before we retire.’”
For more information, go to fentonsbloomnbasket.com or call (585)-343-8352.
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