11/15 13:14 Garden.com to Shut Down Gardening-Supplies Web Site, Cut Jobs By Heather Landy

Austin, Texas, Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Garden.com Inc. said it will shut down its Internet retail site, joining the ranks of Pets.com Inc., MotherNature.com Inc. and other online retailers that announced this month that they ran out of funding.

The gardening-supplies merchant will fire an undisclosed number of workers and sell off its inventory, site content and photo library, the company said in a statement distributed by PR Newswire. It will consider alternatives for its technology assets. Company officials couldn't be reached to comment further.

Garden.com was founded in 1995 and sold shares to the public in September 1999 at $12 apiece. The shares plunged as money- losing Web retailers fell out of favor with investors. Garden.com fell 9 cents to 16 cents in early afternoon trading.

``I deeply regret that Garden.com is unable to see through the vision we started nearly five years ago,'' President and Chief Executive Cliff Sharples said in the company's statement.

In September, the Austin, Texas-based retailer fired 93 employees, or about 30 percent of its workforce, and hired Robertson Stephens & Co. as an adviser. BancBoston Robertson Stephens had assisted in the company's initial public offering, which was led by Hambrecht & Quist LLC. Thomas Weisel Partners LLC also assisted.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top%20Financial%20News&s1=blk&tp=ad_topright_topfin&T=markets_bfgcgi_content99.ht&s2=blk&bt=ad_position1_topfin&middle=ad_frame2_topfin&s=AOhLShxWHR2FyZGVu

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), November 15, 2000

Answers

I just received a big, glossy catalog from them in hte mail yesterday. I guess that expense didn't help their bottom-line.

-- K. (infosurf@yahoo.com), November 15, 2000.