Demand for plants has dried up post-covid, producing sagging sales and shuttered nurseries.
The pandemic was devastating for San Francisco’s retail economy — except for the garden-store business, which thrived during the work-from-home era. But several years later, the bloom is off the rose — and then some.
City sales tax data shows just how far the local horticulture industry has drooped: not just down from its pandemic-era peak but to its lowest point in 15 years. According to garden-store owners and industry researchers, the decline has been driven by receding interest in gardening, a sluggish home sales market, unlucky weather, and the simple fact that, for the green-thumbed, plants can be a one-time investment…