Annie’s Annuals in Richmond to Reopen as Employee-Owned Nursery After Abrupt Closure

Updated 2:05 p.m. Friday

A popular Richmond nursery that shut down abruptly last month amid employees’ concerns about its management will reopen under a new name — but plans to get back to its roots, according to its new owner.

Colleen Wheeler, who was the head of research and development at Annie’s Annuals and Perennials when it shut down, has purchased the Richmond nursery and its stock of plants, she said. While other owners bought the name and online services, Wheeler said she and a team of about 15 former Annie’s employees plan to continue the legacy started by Annie Hayes three decades ago.

“It’s such a lovely expression of the joy that [Hayes] imparted on everybody who walked through these gates, and all we can hope to do is do right by that legacy, continue it on inside of this space, and provide further inspiration to people,” Wheeler said. “And continue to fill Bay Area gardens with the plants that have really defined gardening and horticulture in the broader Bay Area.”

Wheeler was one of a few employees held over after former owner Sarah Hundley announced earlier this month that she would close Annie’s due to medical issues. Multiple former employees, however, told KQED that since Hundley took over the nursery from Hayes in 2021, she had berated and bullied managers as business went downhill.

Hundley has denied the allegations.

After the closure, Wheeler was tasked with keeping the plants alive while Hundley worked out a sale of the space and stock. She and the other staff members still employed realized that by combining their assets — with the help of Wheeler’s mother, Penny Orland — they could purchase the space.

“Everything that we needed was here, and it was within our reach,” Wheeler said. She and her mother are co-owners of the new nursery, which will be called Curious Flora Nursery.

“It’s just been a roller coaster of three weeks, putting everything in place to do that,” Wheeler continued.

Along with Wheeler, Curious Flora will be led by Memo Galarza and Carlos Castillo, two of Hayes’ earliest employees. Together, they hope to get back to the Annie’s that Wheeler said she began making “pilgrimages up to” when she was first studying horticulture in Southern California.

“I heard about this wild and crazy nursery where they had to have these huge parties, and they would play these amazing games and people would dance,” Wheeler said. “There was like a ‘Supermarket Sweep’ where somebody would have 15 minutes with a little red wagon to fill up with as many plants as they could.”

Wheeler said people can expect more parties with gogo dancers, community events and rare plants in the future.

Curious Flora plans to open Nov. 2, less than a month after Hundley announced Annie’s would close immediately — shocking and saddening longtime fans, some of whom had traveled from as far as Colorado to peruse the curated selection of rare and native plants over the years.

Others questioned whether Hundley was closing the beloved business fairly.

Gift cards were voided, and returns weren’t allowed upon the store’s closing — the same day it was announced. Employees said they only found out the day before, many through managers or other co-workers.

About 10, including Melanie Williams, who started working at Annie’s in 2013, accused Hundley of bullying. Many said she did not run the business efficiently.

At the time, Hundley told KQED in an email that she “closed the business in a way that I could best take care of them one last time by providing them with severance.”

She said Thursday that she was thrilled the business would now be owned by people who have loved Annie’s for years.

“Having a group of employees who love the nursery continue its legacy is very special, and I am excited to see Annie’s live on for them and the community,” Hundley said via email.

Williams said she was “elated” for the future of the business under Wheeler and the others.

Curious Flora will not be able to bring back all employees let go by Hundley, Wheeler said, since the business is not going to be doing mail orders just yet.

“We’re going to have to be a little lean and just wait for the public to find their way back to us,” Wheeler said. “But we have every intention of offering all of the great elements that have defined this space.”

The Hageman family, who owns one of the largest independent organic farm and garden suppliers, has acquired Annie’s name, logos, website and online ordering, Wheeler said. According to an Instagram post, its collections will be available online for shipping again next spring.

According to a post on their site, people with outstanding gift cards, pending purchases or returns can file a claim with ApisRegina, which is doing business for Annie’s Annuals and Perennials.

Wheeler said building up Curious Flora isn’t going to be easy, but it will be guided by wisdom from Hayes.

“Through all of the years when they had struggles, and they didn’t know how they were going to make it work, she would just remind everybody that the nursery wants to live and that the nursery has always wanted to live,” Wheeler said. “Knowing that [Galarza] and [Castillo] are here to guide the nursery going forward … us doing this would allow the nursery to continue to live.”