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Small Business Spotlight: Celebrating spring at Piedmont Feed & Garden Center

Piedmont Feed & Garden Center is located on Highway 54, just west of Orange Grove Road, only about 15 minutes from downtown Chapel Hill.

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By
Kevin Kuzminski
, WRAL multiplatform producer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — As WRAL’s Small Business Spotlight continues to tour the Triangle, this week we’re celebrating spring in Chapel Hill, checking out a mom-and-pop garden shop, run by a couple with a deep-rooted passion for plants.

Piedmont Feed & Garden Center is located on Highway 54, just west of Orange Grove Road, only about 15 minutes from downtown Chapel Hill.

And let me tell you, it’s worth the short trip.

Lilly Williamson runs this place with her husband, Chris. They met as freshmen at UNC, and you might say their partnership has really blossomed from there.

“My husband is a lifelong gardener, interested in horticulture. I’m a lifelong rider and have worked with horses most of my life,” Williamson explained. “So, we were friends with the previous owner, and one day he was like, ‘You want to buy my store?’ And we were like, ‘Sure, why not?’”

The Williamsons took an unorthodox route to running a garden center. They both worked in real estate but didn’t like the landscape, so they made a change.

“My husband actually worked in commercial real estate and I worked in residential real estate, but when we were not at work, we had a hobby farm,” Williamson said. “So it’s always been something that’s been an interest, but now we get to do it for work, too.”

Now, I’m not exaggerating when I say that if you can think of it, they probably have it here. But their primary focus is still making your garden glow.

“We actually want people to think of this as a garden center, first,” Williamson said. “And through my husband’s efforts, and through the staff’s efforts, we’ve been able to do that. The garden center has really come back and it’s better than it’s ever been.”

Part of that comeback has been recovering from the initial scare that the pandemic brought. Williamson says, for a while, they didn’t know what their future would look like.

“This time last year was really scary, we had no idea how things were gonna impact us, and luckily, we were deemed an essential business. Animals still have to eat, you need feed for your animals and your pets, and you need to be able to grow your own food and things like that,” she said. “So, we actually closed the interior of our store, completely, to the public, and only allowed people to shop outside. We sent home a lot of people just because we were worried about, ‘are you going to get sick if you come to work?’”

The other aspect of the rebound involves bringing back their wide array of classes and workshops, including canning and making strawberry jam. The venue has also hosted backyard bird classes from the Audubon Society.

“We do a lot of basic garden classes, we were going to start houseplant classes last year, as well. So these are all things that we’re going to be doing in the future, we’ll get started back with that again,” she said.

The workshops are indicative of the culture here, a place run by people who are passionate about what they do. It’s another reason Williamson says shopping local is the way to go.

“At the big box store, you’re just not going to get the same level of expertise that you’re going to get here,” Williamson insisted. “Our staff members have 30 plus years of experience in this industry – they can answer your questions. They can take a beginning gardener and tell you exactly what you need to do. They’re going to steer you to the right plant so that you’re successful, because that’s what we want.

“That’s what really differentiates us is customer service. You’re going to come here and you’re going to have a great experience.”

The pandemic has been hard on everyone in one way or another, but the Williamsons have found a silver lining.

“I’m delighted we’ve had so many new gardeners, so many new bird watchers, so many new pet owners, because finally, people were home, and they had the time to maybe adopt that puppy they never had before,” Williamson said. “They started looking around their backyard and thought ‘I could have a vegetable garden;’ so many new people coming who’ve kind of reconnected to their little patch of Earth.”

That connection is what drives Lilly and her family to make this little patch of Earth in Chapel Hill a place where they can make a big impact.

“I want to connect people with nature, [if] people leave here and they feel a little closer to nature, a little inspired, or we’ve brought a little bit of beauty to their daily life, that makes me happy, we’re accomplishing something,” she said.

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