President of Sloat Garden Center explains Navlet's purchase

After months of talks, Navlet's Garden Centers, with four locations in California's East Bay area, has agreed to be bought out by the Sloat Garden Center, which operates nine locations in the San Francisco area.

Sloat, No. 13 on our 2015 Top 100 Independent Garden Centers list, will control a total of 13 locations after the purchase is finalized.

Read our first article about the deal.

All Navlet's franchises are expected to reopen as Sloat Garden Center stores in the coming weeks. Dave Stoner, president and CEO of Sloat Garden Center, says the signage at all Navlet's stores will be changed to Sloat signage, but loyal Navlet's customers can expect to see the same faces at their usual stores, as all original managers and the majority of staff are expected to remain after the acquisition.

"Navlet’s is really a very old, well-established community garden center and they’re really well-respected on what we call the East Bay," Stoner says. "The beauty of how this is all working is that we’re basically retaining 98 percent of their team. We’ve offered jobs to everybody who wanted one and there will be a couple that probably don’t, but it’s going to be all the same managers in all the same stores, with a few Sloatians mixed in.

"It’s still in the works, but we don’t anticipate losing more than three or four people from the existing [Navlet’s] staff of about 50," Stoner added.

Though there are many factors that contributed to the decision by Navlet's to sell, Stoner says one major factor has been the impact of drought and water shortage on many California businesses. With some favorable geographic conditions, Sloat came through the recent shortages into a feasible position to expand.

Read more about how Sloat is coping with the drought: Sloat Garden Center and other California businesses adapt to drought conditions.

"I think it’s a story that you’re seeing in a lot of west coast garden centers over the last three or four years," Stoner says. "It’s the fourth year of the worst drought California has ever seen, for one thing. That’s definitely a contributing factor. Sloat is fortunate where our west-based [locations] are, as far as water went this year. A good portion of our stores, even though we were under rationing, had full reservoirs … it left us in a better position than most."

Stoner says he looks forward to combining the strengths of the Sloat and Navlet's teams as 2016 gets underway.

"It’s east meets west," Stoner says. "Our business models and our stories really fit. I think it’s going to be relatively seamless, within reason. We hope to be open in a couple weeks."

Photo: Sloat Garden Center property, from July 2015 issue of Garden Center magazine, courtesy of Sloat Garden Centers.

Also from Garden Center magazine: 2015 Garden Centers of America announces details of California summer tour.