Lester Struble didn’t hesitate to answer as his younger brother, Michael, sat nodding to his left.
“I would say this has been a dream of ours,” he said. “It’s nice to see it come to fruition.”
Struble Gardens opened on Lakeside Boulevard a little over a week ago—just in time for the spring and summer booms. And as it prepares for its grand opening May 5-6, it has an eye toward the future, the older brother said.
“We want to be here for a long time,” Lester Struble said.
The Struble brothers, who grew up in West Milford, each studied horticulture at Delaware Valley College in Pennsylvania before opening up a landscaping business, based out of Ledgewood, in 1998.
Lester Struble said the pair specializes in high-end residential landscaping, but that “we’ll do any size project, whether it’s a small job or a project on the lake.”
The brothers agreed that operating the dual-service business would be a challenge, but would be a benefit not just to themselves, but to Hopatcong.
“Not only are we able to attract more people that we can do landscaping for, but we’re able to buy products cheaper, to be able to install better, get better prices on jobs,” he said. “Yeah, it’s a little intimidating, I would say, that we’re starting a whole separate business. But it’s exciting. I’m very confident in the people that we’ve hired.”
While Lester Struble was referring to several people, he specifically said manager Carolyn Witman, who has years of gardening experience, would be an asset.
He also added that the garden center, while on the smaller side, would focus on quality.
“If somebody comes in an they see a plant that looks healthy or is in full bloom or looks like it’s been cared for, they’re going to want to buy that as opposed to going into a big box story and they’re all straggly,” Lester Struble said.
Michael Struble said he was looking forward to working with the Hopatcong community from the 14 Lakeside Blvd. location, which had sat empty for more than a year after Get Potted moved to a smaller location on the same street in 2010.
The younger brother said the building didn’t need much work—other than a fresh coat of paint downstairs—though it took a month to enlarge the parking lot and add lighting, curbs, asphalt, retaining walls and fencing.
“I’m really excited,” Michael Struble said.
Lester Struble said that the business, located at the beginning of one of Hopatcong’s main arteries, would also be interested in helping borough nonprofits.
“We want to let the community know that we want to help them out if there’s some kind of benefit or if we can be of any help as far as organizations that are looking to do fundraisers,” he said.
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