Harvest Supply Co., a 75-year-old gardening distributor headquartered in Fort Worth, has been purchased by BWI Companies Inc., a similar distributor based near Texarkana, Texas. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Harvest distributes products to retail businesses such as garden centers, nurseries, farm stores and hardware stores as well as commercial growers, professional landscapers and municipalities throughout Texas. The company dates back to 1939 when brothers William P. Cranz and Gus E. Cranz founded Harvest Seed Co., a retail store offering seeds, grains and gardening products on Seventh Street west of downtown Fort Worth. In the 1960s, Harvest began selling wholesale and transitioned to selling only to retailers and professional landscapers under the Harvest Supply Co. In 2004, Harvest entered the organic gardening market by acquiring competitor, Marshall Distributing Co., along with its Nature’s Guide branded organic product lines.
BWI, headquartered in Nash, Texas, distributes similar products across the Mid-South and Southeastern U.S. through its 14 locations and eight full-line distribution centers. According to CEO Jim Bunch, BWI plans to expand the number and geographic scope of the Nature’s Guide organic product offerings.
Betty Dillard bdillard@bizpress.net