A landscape supply yard along Scotts Valley Drive has re-opened with new owners.
Bob and Janice Bowers of Corralitos opened Scotts Valley Rock on Aug. 22. The business on the corner of Scotts Valley Drive and Erba Lane is known by locals as The Rockery.
“It’s been here since 1968,” Bob Bowers said. “We talked to the Brassfields (owners of the property, who originally started the business), and they wanted to keep it open, so we took over the lease.”
The Bowerses got started in landscape supply in 1976, when they opened Santa Cruz Landscape Supply on 41st Avenue in Capitola. They closed the yard in the late 1980s and opened Tri County Landscape Supply in Watsonville. They also own Santa Cruz Compost, a trucking company used to move landscape materials.
“We thought we’d expand and see how it goes,” Bowers said.
The yard in Scotts Valley will have 28 bins, compared with 48 at the couple’s Watsonville yard. The Bowerses said they will offer a topsoil blend they’ve been mixing since 1979, other soils, decorative mulches, stone, slate and sod. They also will have an ample supply of paving stones that are popular right now.
The company delivers all over California but does most of its business in Santa Cruz County, Los Gatos and Santa Clara.
The new owners recognize Central Home Supply as their chief competitor in Scotts Valley and said they have comparable prices.
“We just hope we can serve the areas as well as the (last owners) did,” Jim Bowers said.
The previous owners, Ron and Sandi Kilcrease, retired in April after 15 years in the business.
“They had a good following,” Janice Bowers said.
Several neighbors have complained in the past about the dust and noise, saying a supply yard does not belong next to their neighborhood.
Bob Bowers said the company has cleaned up the lot by repairing many of the pens and has scraped away a covering of dirt that was causing dust in the area.
