Though it is often believed that family-owned companies are unique and more prevalent in the independent garden center industry, in actuality, about 90 percent of companies nationwide are operated or owned by families.
What is rarer are family-owned businesses that survive past the first generation. About a third of family-owned companies continue to be operated by individuals in the second generation, 12 percent in the third and just 3 percent in the fourth and beyond, according to the Family Business Alliance.