The store, located at 604 Williams St., Austin, has been providing Austinites with a wide selection of plants, gardening supplies and other goods for green thumbs since June 2020.
Co-owner Rodney Stoutenger said Garden Seventeen is closing due to several unexpected financial setbacks.
“Its felt like an uphill battle,” Stoutenger said.
Eight months into opening, Winter Storm Uri froze over dozens of plants at Garden Seventeen, leading to an over $100,000 loss in inventory. Then earlier this year, Garden Seventeen suffered a series of six break-ins, costing the store $65,000, Stoutenger said.
Historic storms and break-ins aside, Stoutenger said rising rent costs have priced Garden Seventeen out. The store’s rent was raised four times in the past three years, he said, most recently to about $30,000 a month.
Looking ahead, Stoutenger and co-owner Jake Garrison plan on relocating Garden Seventeen and its adjacent coffee trailer, 604 Coffee, to a new space in Central Austin.
“We love what we do. And nobody's gonna ever take that away from us,” Stoutenger said. “And it was insane. The first day of our closing, we did over 800 transactions. That's what we normally do in a three-day weekend.”
Until Garden Seventeen finds a new home, Stoutenger and Garrison’s landscaping business, Native Edge, and their online hammock shop, Hung Hammocks, both remain open.
