David Hunter Garden Centers was founded in the fall of 1953 with our first store at Kingsway and Rupert. It was originally called “The Kingsway Garden Shop”. David took over the operation of “The Broadway Garden Shop” from Lloyd Smith at 2084 West Broadway in the spring of 1960. Duncan Roberts was hired to be the manger of the store. The store was completely re-modeled including a new covered sales area. With two garden centers the name was changed to David Hunter Garden Shops. At the time David had a radio and TV show teaching gardening techniques.

During this time we also ran a landscaping and maintenance division which grew to become one of the largest in the industry operating approximately 20 trucks. We began to work with the American Association of Nurserymen (AAN) as members. David Hunter and his son Ron Hunter have both served as BC Governors of the AAN. At this time we changed our name to David Hunter Landscape Nurseries.

We continued to expand the business with stores in Port Coquitlam (at Lougheed Highway and Coast Meridian Road) and in Surrey (at 152nd street and 72nd avenue). This is also when we incorporated the flower shops into the garden centers.

Both David and Margaret have been awarded the Pacific Coast Nurseryman Magazine “Outstanding Service Award”. In 1982 David was only the second person to receive this award. In 2006 Margaret became the first woman to receive this award.

Dave and Margaret, retired to the Sunshine Coast in 1978. They have traveled extensively throughout the USA and Mexico. They also traveled to Great Britain, Europe, the Orient, and the Caribbean. Margaret passed away in the fall of 2008, but David lives near our Surrey location and still comes by periodically to make sure that we are staying true to his vision.

We operated the store on Kingsway until 1978, and the store in Port Coquitlam until the summer of 1995.

We are now in our third generation with David’s grandson Miles taking over the business from his father, Ron. We currently have two stores including the store at 2084 West Broadway in Vancouver and at 152nd street and 72nd avenue in Surrey. This year marks over 55 years of service to the gardening community in Greater Vancouver.

We are honoured that the Kitsilano Chamber of Commerce recognized our Broadway store as the “Business of the Year” for 2005. In 2009 The Vancouver Courier readers voted our Broadway store as their Favorite Garden center in the “Stars of Vancouver” contest. We would like to thank all of our customers for their support.

2009 marks our 56th Anniversary. We celebrated with an Anniversary Sale in early October. If you missed our be sure to keep it in mind for next year.