Marlow Orchids is closing

[MJG]

I'm on Marlow's email list and just received this news. I'm gutted. I hope it's ok to share their actual announcement here:

"The time has come that we must say goodbye.
It is with great sadness that we write this email to you today. Despite my best efforts, I have had to make the difficult decision to officially begin closing Marlow Orchids, LLC.

This decision has not come lightly and has by no means been easy for any of the partners, colleagues, or employees. With the inability to secure proper financing, coupled with the uncertainty of our times, I cannot justify the push to continue now any longer. While this is the beginning of the end, it by no means removes Jim's, Mike's, or my involvement with orchids. We will always love orchids and keep many plants in our personal collections.

We want to take the time to personally thank each and every one of you for your support, loyalty, and love over the years. It is you that we will miss the most: your smiles, laughs, and joy you bring to each of us and the world. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

What's next and what you need to know:

1. Our closure will be a phased-out approach with an ending date of the end of the year or the early part of 2021
2. We have lots of great plants available that we will continue to sell through our website and in house by appointment.
3. As the weeks move on, we will continue to add new products from the greenhouse as well as specials to the website for you to purchase. (i.e. - we have a lot of Paphs that we will begin to list starting next week)
4. If you have a Gift Certificate from us, please use them as soon as possible.
5. Starting October 1st, all sales will be final.
6. If you are interested in shopping in person, please give us a call so we can set up an appointment for you.

While this may be the end of this chapter, it is not the ending of the book. I am looking to the future with hope, optimism, and excitement.

Wishing you all good wishes and happiness.

Happy Growing!

Jonathan"

[DirtyCoconuts]

That is really sad news. I hope I can help them unload some of their stock....by buying it.

Really nice people there in my few purchases.

[JScott]

OH GOD NO!!!!! It's gonna save me a lot of money, but I'm really sad. They've always been really friendly and really good to me. They've helped me find plants I wanted that I couldn't find. He replaced an expensive plant that got heat damaged during shipping (absolutely not his fault) for free, without me even asking him to. Marlow's is one of my favorite nurseries and I'm sad to see them go.

[MJG]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

That is really sad news. I hope I can help them unload some of their stock....by buying it.

Really nice people there in my few purchases.

Me too regarding helping out with the stock. I'm working on my shopping cart as we speak!

This is extra sad to me because they're local. We have a relatively small economy here in update NY, so I hate to see this happen, especially to the small guys. Jim came to our local orchid society meetings. Before he opened his greenhouses to the public, he would have annual mother's day open houses. You'd go through his back yard to get to the greenhouses. His table in his house was stocked with snacks for the occasion including homemade things in crockpots. I don't know him or Jonathan personally but it still feels like this is happening to a neighbor.

[Leafmite]

Wow, that is terrible. Without all the shows, social distancing and such, many vendors are having difficulty this year. The problem is, with plants, there is often not much money to be made. It takes a great deal of time to care for the plants, and money to heat greenhouses, run fans, buy fungicides and pesticides (or organic alternatives), drive to orchid shows (this takes time), give talks about orchids at meetings, maintain websites, and all the other things that vendors do. The orchid vendors I have personally met work full-time jobs and selling orchids is a time-consuming, expensive hobby...with hopes to support their orchid hobby but often not really doing so.

So many orchid vendors have gone out of business since I have started ordering orchids online. We just had Sam Tsui of Orchid Inn speak at our Zoom Orchid Society meeting and he is planning on retiring in a couple of years and closing Orchid Inn so we will lose someone who is hybridizing quality Paphs. (If you like what he is doing with Paphs, now is the time to buy).

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Wow, that is terrible. Without all the shows, social distancing and such, many vendors are having difficulty this year. The problem is, with plants, there is often not much money to be made. It takes a great deal of time to care for the plants, and money to heat greenhouses, run fans, buy fungicides and pesticides (or organic alternatives), drive to orchid shows (this takes time), give talks about orchids at meetings, maintain websites, and all the other things that vendors do. The orchid vendors I have personally met work full-time jobs and selling orchids is a time-consuming, expensive hobby...with hopes to support their orchid hobby but often not really doing so.

So many orchid vendors have gone out of business since I have started ordering orchids online. We just had Sam Tsui of Orchid Inn speak at our Zoom Orchid Society meeting and he is planning on retiring in a couple of years and closing Orchid Inn so we will lose someone who is hybridizing quality Paphs. (If you like what he is doing with Paphs, now is the time to buy).

I also hate to see the small local guys go. I recently ordered several Cattleya tenebrosas bred by John Stanton at The Orchid Trail. His website isn't super advanced, so I had to call him to complete the sale, and he was so friendly, and we just chatted for a long time like old friends, at which time he told me he would be retiring and closing the nursery soon. I haven't known about him for very long, but the plants I got from him were absolutely excellent, and I wish I had found him sooner and been able to buy even more from him.

[Keysguy]

Bummer. I have always enjoyed working and talking with both Jim and Jonathan. They have always been one of my favorite vendors because of the way they were always keeping their offerings fresh and different.

They will certainly be missed on the northeast US show circuit. (assuming of course there ever is such a thing again....)

[WaterWitchin]

Yes, got that email and it made me very sad. I'm sure not as sad as they are. So many smaller businesses that just aren't gonna try to make it through this recession. I don't blame them. So glad I'm not still in business, and having to struggle with the supply chain, the shipping, etc, etc, etc.

[Clawhammer]

One of the best, very sad news.

[SouthPark]

Definitely sad to hear about that. I just looked up the history ----- established in 1993. Judging from the great feedback from everybody here, they are obviously a very good orchid nursery company. Some great people involved.