🔒Van Wilgen’s to open Southington garden center at former Smithland site

Van Wilgen’s Garden Center plans to open a new retail location in Southington later this month at the site of a former Smithland Pet & Garden Center that closed last year. The family-owned garden center chain said it will open the store March 19 at 1198 Queen St. The 5.1-acre property includes a roughly 19,800-square-foot retail building and a nearly 5,000-square-foot greenhouse. Van Wilgen’s purchased the property last year for $3.2 million, according to town records. The site had long been home to a Smithland Pet & Garden Center, which closed in 2025 as the chain shut down all 13 of its locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The new Southington store is expected to employ about 25 workers, including some former Smithland employees. Van Wilgen’s, a fourth-generation family-owned business, operates other garden centers in North Branford, Clinton, Guilford, Milford and Old Saybrook.