(Baton Rouge, La.) – Today, U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-La.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (SBC), announced that he is recognizing Clegg’s Nursery and Naylor's Hardware and Garden Center of Baton Rouge, La as Small Business of the Week, and will be submitting it into the official Congressional Record. Following the recent, unprecedented flooding, Clegg's Nursery has permanently merged businesses with Naylor's Hardware and Garden Center, whose facility was severely damaged.
“In the ongoing fight to rebuild much of South Louisiana after the devastating losses we experienced from widespread flooding, I am proud of the perseverance, resilience, and spirit of service clearly present amidst our local communities,” said Vitter. “As such, I would like to recognize the newly formed partnership of Clegg’s Nursery, LLC and Naylor’s Hardware and Garden Center of Baton Rouge as Small Business of the Week. Their forward thinking and commitment to helping other local businesses is inspiring to the entire Baton Rouge community as folks begin the long road to recovery.”
In 1955, Sam and Effie Clegg founded Clegg’s Nursery in Baton Rouge, La. They began by selling just a few plants from an empty lot on Florida Boulevard, but this quickly led to the opening of a small garden center in Baton’s Rouge’s Lobdell-Woodale neighborhood. In 1999, Clegg’s was sold to current managers, Scott Ricca and Tom Fennell, who dedicated themselves and the company to the same values, mission, and passion for gardening that both Sam and Effie Clegg envisioned over 40 years before. What started out as a plant stand in an empty lot has now developed into a wholesale growing operation with several locations throughout the Baton Rouge area.
Amidst recent devastating flooding, Clegg’s has led by example and embodied the true spirit of Louisiana generosity, specifically through its new partnership with Naylor’s Hardware and Garden Center, another local hardware and garden store in the area. Following the storm, Naylor’s was left irreparably destroyed. Clegg’s offered immediate help to its neighboring company by giving jobs to several of Naylor’s employees, including its owner Johnny Naylor, and has recently announced that Clegg's and Naylor's are permanently merging their businesses to continue to supply the Baton Rouge community with the same great products and customer service under one roof.
Yesterday, Chairman Vitter hosted the Honorable Maria Contreras-Sweet, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), in South Louisiana as they toured flood-impacted areas in Livingston, Ascension, and East Baton Rouge parishes. Chairman Vitter is planning a SBC hearing to examine the federal response to the Louisiana flood disaster in early September. Click here to read more.
As SBC Chairman, Vitter continues the tradition of honoring America’s spirit of small business and entrepreneurship.
