McNaughton's of Cherry Hill has spent 94 years helping South Jersey's gardens and yards.

Anyone who has ever been in the home market has heard the term curb appeal, the attention paid to the exterior to make that site more attractive from the street.

Whether a long-time resident or newbie to the 70and73.com area, it is highly likely you have passed properties where the owners purchased the tools, seeds, plants, bushes to dress up their home's outside from McNaughton's Garden Center and Landscaping in Cherry Hill.

The business started in 1929, when William McNaughton Sr. opened a wholesale and retail landscape nursery and gave the business his last name, said Tom Measey, a manager who has worked at McNaughton's Garden Center and Landscaping for more than 22 years. The garden center was the first facility to open at the 13-acre Cherry Hill facility, and later came retail, wholesale, landscaping and other divisions.

Another McNaughton's Garden Center and Landscaping location opened in Somers Point in 1998, with many of the same products as the Cherry Hill location. Many of both centers' products begin life at farms scattered throughout South Jersey that are operated by McNaughton's descendants, according to Measey.

ABOUT THIS FEATURE: Driving by a business that has long been a part of our life offers a feeling of ease and a special sense of place. Our FIXTURES feature focuses on businesses or other institutions that for decades have become important to us. Tell us your FIXTURE. If we use your suggestion, we will send you a 70and73 hat. Send email to contactus@70and73.com. Below, see the FIXTURES that already have been featured. — Editor

A keen business sense may be one secret to the company's longevity, Measey said, explaining that "the McNaughtons pay their bills, pay their taxes and they please employees."

Having various products available year-round for those with a green thumb may have also helped the company last so long. 

For instance, customers who stop by the Cherry Hill center at 351 Kresson Road in late spring will find a variety of flowers and greenery on display and ready for planting or displaying, including hydrangeas in blue and red, lilies in orange, roses in red and orange and yellow as well as caladiums in pink and in other colors resembling the packs of crayons that you used as a child.

There was also a wide assortment of greenery like palms, cacti and succulents, as well as quite a few hanging baskets, clay pots and ceramic containers in a rainbow of colors available at the center. Lawn furniture in colors such as green and gray and white Adirondack chairs also were available for purchasing.

In 2019, McNaughton's Garden Center and Landscaping began holding occasional Maker's Markets at the Cherry Hill site to provide customers with a greater selection of products. One such event was held in March, and another market with more than 30 vendors will be held Saturday, July 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The events allow area bakers, jewelry makers, crocheters, sauce makers and similar crafters to display and sell their homemade wares, according to Measey. (If it rains, the event will be moved to Sunday, according to the center’s Facebook page.)

The center will look like a place ready for the winter holidays during Saturday’s Maker’s Market, according to Measey, explaining that holiday ornaments will be for sale and that Santa will make a visit.

In about a month or so, the product selection changes to pumpkins, gourds and dried corn. Other Maker’s Markets will be held on November 11 and 12, the center’s Facebook page reported.

At about the same time that the November Maker's Market takes place, the products for sale at McNaughton’s Garden Center and Landscaping will change to winter-themed plants, flowers and similar products, including poinsettias, grave blankets, trees and wreaths, according to Measey. Also around that time, Santa Claus, the holiday ornaments and the much-anticipated G-Boys animated and illuminated light display will return, he said.

"G-Boys was a competitor to us for some 50 years," Measey explained. "They were known for their animated show at Christmas that started in the city of Camden and eventually ended up on Route 70 (in Marlton)."

When G-Boys went out of business in 2012, McNaughton’s Garden Center and Landscaping customers kept telling its employees that it needed a similar display, Measey said. That finally happened about seven years ago, when G-Boys and McNaughton's Garden Center began a professional relationship to have the display at the center.  

Throughout the year, McNaughton's Garden Center and Landscaping sells many different types of seeds, seedlings, mulch and soil so those with a greener thumb can grow the flowers, plants and trees by themselves. For instance, when 70and73.com stopped by, about one-fourth of one wall was filled with envelopes containing seeds that can be bought for many mild-weather fruits and vegetables.     

Regardless of the season, customers have an experience different from the bigger, nationwide stores that sell many of the same products, according to Measey.

His comment was spurred after a customer stopped by during the 70and73.com interview to ask about a product. He asked a question in return, launching an approximately three-minute conversation that he said helped ensure the customer's right product was found. According to Measey, this back-and-forth interaction with customers is not universal at stores selling many of the same products as McNaughton's.

"The difference between us and most other garden centers is our employees' experience," Measey said.

Measey, who lives in Burlington City, explained that his family was in the retail and wholesale florist business for a long time before it closed and he went to work for McNaughton Garden Center and Landscaping. Therefore, he had a leg up on many of the business’s products before ever working there.

Even so, those who have yet to gain that type of experience benefit from his expertise. During the interview, one employee reached out to him via the two-way radio all employees carry to get answers to their questions based on customer questions.

Again, it is all to satisfy customers with their purchase, Measey said, and might still be another secret to the center's longevity.  

That part of the business model and the other parts described in this story will likely stay the same for the foreseeable future, according to Measey.

IF YOU GO: 

McNaughton's Garden Center and Landscaping is at 351 Kresson Road in Cherry Hill. The center is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Its website is mcnaughtonsgardens.com.

70and73.com FIXTURES:

• Since 1959, Route 70 traffic whizzed by Lou and Ann's Deli in Cherry Hill.
• For 51 years, Medford shoppers found then and the now at the Yesterday and Today shop.
• Reily's Candy of Medford has spent 60 years satisfying the area's chocolate cravings.
• For decades, cheesesteaks have sizzled on the grill at 66-year-old Chick's Deli in Cherry Hill.
• Odd memento for framing? Creativity guides Hawthorne Gallery & Frame in Medford.
• Video games? Naw. At the two Happy Hippo Toys, playtime has long meant the traditional.
• Staying power: Cherry Hill's Springdale Farm has been working the ground for 74 years.
• For 30-year owner of Diane's water ices in Voorhees, life has been continuous flavor hunt.
• Inspired by Grateful Dead, Woodstock Trading Company in Cherry Hill around since 1980s.
• Online orders? Not at 65-year-old Carl's Shoes in Moorestown. It's all about 'sit and fit.'
• Erlton Bicycle Shop in Cherry Hill has spent nearly 50 years putting suburbia on two wheels.