Family-owned garden center opens third store in region

MRT Lawn and Garden Center has opened a new store in North Venice. The shop marks the third in the region for the company, which also has locations in Port Charlotte and South Venice.

Located at 385 U.S. 41 Bypass N., the new MRT Lawn and Garden Center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Store hours will be extended in the coming weeks, as the company fine-tunes merchandising as well as staffing and puts the finishing touches on the building.

The new shop is on a 2-acre parcel with nearly 10,000 square feet of retail space, between Plaza Mexico Restaurant and Tommy’s Car Wash on the U.S. 41 Bypass.

MRT Lawn and Garden Center sells high-quality flowering annuals, perennials and trees in addition to outdoor pottery, home decor and apparel for men and women, according to MRT Companies Executive Vice President Justin Taylor.

At the new North Venice location, Taylor says the Greenhouse Cafe will open within the garden center within a few months. It will offer soft-serve ice cream, pastries, coffee drinks, sandwiches, smoothies and “hopefully beer and wine." 

“Since we consider ourselves a ‘destination garden center,’ we feel the need to provide more than just one reason for people to visit one of our stores,” Taylor says.

The Taylor family founded MRT Lawn and Garden Center in 2003 when it opened its first store at 5175 Englewood Road in South Venice. The second location, at 2775 El Jobean Road in Port Charlotte, followed in 2020. MRT has partnered with ACE Hardware to offer full outdoor living, hardware, paint, electrical and plumbing departments at those locations. While the South Venice and Port Charlotte stores are ACE-affiliated, the North Venice location is not, Taylor says.

Looking ahead, the family-owned business could expand even further.

“We would love to open a fourth retail location in South Sarasota, and we feel like opening here still allows for that without our store locations being too close together,” Taylor says. “It's been great having the success of our business in South Venice, but we hope this store will alleviate the congestion that store receives during our busy spring season, and will encourage more people from Englewood, Wellen Park or Manasota Key to visit our South Venice location.”

According to Taylor, a grand opening for the North Venice location will be announced in the spring.