Rizzi Blames Route 59 Road Work, Fickle Customers for Garden Center's Failure

Rizzi’s Flower Garden & Aquatic Center is finished, done in by the Route 59 road work and customers who preferred looking to buying, owner Edward Rizzi said Friday.

He remains in business, but will only do custom work for people landscaping their yards or businesses or for those seeking floral and plant arrangements for special events such as weddings or parties, he said. Customers who want to buy something on site will need to make an appointment, he said.

While the business at Route 59 and Fraser Road looks much like it has every summer, with dozens of concrete statues, ceramic pots and flowering baskets outside and an overflowing greenhouse inside, it never reopened for the spring planting season, Rizzi said. He would not say if the items on the property are to be used in his custom business.

“If anybody up or down Route 59 survived the last three years, I don’t know how,” he said. “It’s been devastating. … We’re not one of the big boxes. We haven’t had any support from the (village), the state or anyone.”

Another blow, he said, is the configuration of the new four-lane Route 59, which essentially prevents drivers heading north from turning into the business, Rizzi said. He feared the accidents that would come if northbound customers tried to make U-turns in order to get to the west side of the road to reach his entrance, he said.

But Rizzi said he’s also bitter over the lack of support he’s had from patrons, many of whom liked to come in and look around but not make purchases.

“One guy told me, ‘You can’t close. My daughter loves to feed the (koi) fish,’” he said. “Yes, they love to feed the fish, but what did they buy?

“It’s just a tough time. We had a lot of customers stopping in but not buying anything.”

In order to reach Rizzi now, you must call his Plainfield home/business number, 815-436-6200. Numbers for his other businesses, Rizzi’s Landscape Supplies in Naperville, E.C. Rizzi & Associates in Naperville and Rizzi’s Recycling and Transfer Station in Bolingbrook, are all disconnected.

Records show Rizzi filed for bankruptcy in September 2010, and he put the business up for sale in July 2010 with an asking price of $2.9 million. It’s since been taken off the market.