1991
The Beginning
This story begins in 1991. At the age of 20, DeWayne Lee, son of tobacco and produce farmers from Newton Grove, NC, lost his share of produce at the family farm due to an extremely wet growing season. DeWayne borrowed $500 from his mother, Edna Lee, to set up a pumpkin and produce stand on the front lawn of the local outlet center just off of I-95 in Smithfield, NC. The pumpkin stand started out as DeWayne's Pumpkin Patch, but it quickly became known as "DeWayne's Country Garden." DeWayne provided shoppers with fresh produce during the Spring and Summer, pumpkins and mums in the Fall, and live Christmas trees and candies during the holiday season. During the Spring after opening DeWayne's, he met Tina Young and she began working with DeWayne while still attending high school. The two were married in 1997 and became co-owners of DeWayne's Country Garden.
1995-2001
The Story Continues...
Due to the growth of the outlet center, DeWayne's Country Garden was forced to move from the front lawn to an adjacent property in 1995. After only four years at the new location, they were once again forced to move due to more expansion of the outlet center. This time they took the biggest risk yet, purchasing six acres one mile down the road from the original produce stand location.
Unsure of what the final move would bring for their business, the young couple set up shop once more. The new location allowed The Lee's to spread out their inventory of plants, concrete fountains, and statuary as well as garden accessories. The couple decided to exclude produce from their inventory with the move to the final location.
A gift shop, Christmas Shop, and Greenhouse were some of the dreams DeWayne envisioned for the new location. However, it took another three years to design the building for their new dreams. Construction began on the two story yellow, white, and green building in 2001. Once their dream of their new building became reality, DeWayne moved the original building that was home for "DeWayne's Country Garden," to the concrete area to serve as office space.
2001-Present Day
They're Not Finished Yet
Exactly ten years to the day of the original produce stand opening, the couple envisioned the dream of a new gift shop. The new structure became home to "DeWayne's Home and Garden Showplace," featuring plants for each season, concrete statuary, and fountains. The gift shop is home to unique gift ideas, home decor, and fashion accessories. A seasonal Christmas Shop (now moved to Christmas Land) opened on the second floor of the 9,500 sq ft building during Fall of the following year! DeWayne's sister, Debra, became essential in creating beautiful and unique merchandise displays throughout the gift and Christmas shop!
The business continued to succeed in providing shoppers with a unique shopping experience. The destination offered customers trending home accents, gifts, women's fashions, jewelry, footwear, garden decor and plants. In 2016, The Atrium and Christmas Land additions were added to the existing gift shop and greenhouse structure. A complete facelift started in 2017 on the gift shop and original greenhouse structure, allowing extra space more checkouts, parking, and room to feature new brands in the New Boutique and Men's Shoppe spaces. In Fall of 2019, the Sweet Shop gave customers an extra sweet shopping experience, offering 24 flavors of Hershey Ice Cream, 20 flavors of gourmet fudge, and fresh-squeezed orangeade.