Our Story

The Beginning

The year was 1973. Richard Nixon was president. The Miami Dolphins won the NFL Super bowl. Martin Cooper, the inventor of the mobile phone made the first mobile call. That was the year Charley Yaw, not long after graduating from Oregon State University, decided to start his own business adventure - designing and building portable buildings. With no money in his pockets, but an entrepreneur's dream in his heart, he found a vacant chicken barn near Pine Lake, Washington and started building.

Soon afterwards, a customer asked Charley if he would turn one of his portable buildings into a backyard greenhouse. Charley went about building it, putting it on his trusty, old Ford pickup, and delivering it to his first elated greenhouse customer! He quickly saw a niche market that wasn't being met and launched into building hobby greenhouses. Business soon expanded by word of mouth from satisfied customers. 

Our Catalog was Born

Local, commercial suppliers were not interested in selling hobby gardeners small quantities of pots, propagation mats, lights and other growing accessories for their greenhouses. Increasingly, customers were asking Charley to help them source equipment and supplies for their new greenhouses.

In 1975 Charley and his wife, Carol, put together the first 16-page, black-and-white supply catalog for their greenhouse customers. Money was scarce and they only had enough to print 400 catalogs. The initial reception, however, was overwhelming. They soon began mailing catalogs out to all parts of the country. As greenhouse demand increased, Charley added new greenhouse lines from England, Canada, Germany, China and Denmark to the supply catalog. Specialized hobby greenhouse equipment and supply offerings expanded as Charley's became the USA's #1 supplier.

We went Digital

In 1997, the company went online. Today you'll find hundreds of quality products online, plus helpful greenhouse and gardening tips. The internet has dramatically reshaped Charley's but what still remains is amazing customer service and unique, quality products.

Due to the catalog growth and our online store Charley's has outgrown its facilities several times over the years as we've continued to add products, offices and staff.

Currently we occupy a 14,000 sq. ft. facility that includes our brick & mortar retail store, offices and shop in the beautiful Skagit Valley of Washington State - also home to the internationally acclaimed Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and some of the best farmland in the world.

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