Vacant Chicken Barn Turns Into Multi-Million Dollar Business

The year was 1973. Richard Nixon was president. The Miami Dolphins won the NFL Superbowl. Martin Cooper, the inventor of the mobile phone made the first mobile call. That was the year Charley Yaw, not long after graduating from Oregon State University, decided to start his own business adventure - designing and building portable buildings. With no money in his pockets, but an entrepreneur's dream in his heart, he found a vacant chicken barn near Pine Lake, Washington and started building.

Soon afterwards, a customer asked Charley if he would turn one of his portable buildings into a backyard greenhouse. Charley went about building it, putting it on his trusty, old Ford pickup, and delivering it to his first elated hobby greenhouse customer! He quickly saw a niche market that wasn't being met.  Business soon expanded by word of mouth from satisfied customers.

Charley's Greenhouse Catalog is Born

Commercial suppliers were not interested in selling hobby gardeners small quantities of pots, propagation mats, lights and other growing accessories for their greenhouses. Increasingly, customers were asking Charley to help them source supplies.

Since Charley had been born and raised in Sitka, Alaska on a remote island, shopping by catalog was a way of life instilled in his genes early on. It was a big event when the ship docked in town with catalog goods families had been anxiously waiting for. The Yaw family story goes, when Charley was born on Christmas Eve, his 6-year-old sister even thought Charley was a Christmas present his parents had ordered from the familiar Sears and Roebuck Catalog!

So it was destiny that Charley and his wife, Carol, put together the first 15-page, black-and-white supply catalog for their greenhouse customers. Money was scarce and they only had enough to print 400 catalogs. The initial reception, however, was overwhelming. They soon began mailing catalogs out to all parts of the country.

As greenhouse demand increased, Charley added new greenhouse lines first from England, then Germany and later China to the supply catalog. Specialized hobby greenhouse equipment and supply offerings expanded as Charley's became the USA's #1 supplier. Innovative propagation, lighting, easier gardening, solar, greenhouse construction materials, and other unique gardening products continued to make their way into the catalog. Catalog editions, size and circulation steadily increased.

Please come visit us Charley's garden store and operations occupy 25,000 sq. ft. in the fertile Skagit Valley of Mt. Vernon, Washington - home of the internationally acclaimed Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in April each year. We delight in having our mail order customers from all over the USA stop in to see us when they're coming through. We've talked on the phone and e-mailed with so many of you over the years. It's a special pleasure for us to greet you and thank you in person for your continued support.

Charleysgreenhouse.com

In 1997, we went online. Today you'll find hundreds of quality products online, plus helpful greenhouse and gardening tips.  You can also sign up to receive our weekly email with greenhouse gardening tips, discount coupons, new product alerts, and more.

Today at Charley's From that first portable building Charley turned into a backyard greenhouse, our greenhouse lines have evolved considerably. Today we offer 18 different styles of the best hobby greenhouses available worldwide. We offer extensive sizes, home-attached models, and customization. Our knowledgeable greenhouse consultants are available 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday by phone and online to help you every step of the way from choosing your greenhouse through growing those tomatoes in it! From Charley's first local Ford pickup delivery we have grown to shipping greenhouses daily all over the USA plus internationally.

Our greenhouse equipment and garden supplies products have expanded from the first 90 to well over 1,200. From those first 400 catalogs we gave to customers, we now print and mail over 1 1/2 million annually.

Charley's staff works hard to maintain, our long-standing 35 year reputation as innovative leaders in the USA for hobby greenhousing. You'll find our excellent customer service and knowledge second to none!

We invite you to shop online at www.charleysgreenhouse.com

or in person at our enticing garden store.

E-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   or call and we’ll be happy to send you our latest FREE greenhouse catalog.

Happy year around garden adventures,

Charley, Carol and Staff

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