The Gardener of Bath Closes After 20 Years Amid Changing Customer Patterns

With closing the local gift shop, the owners will focus on their homemade ice cream brand.

by Parisa Nosrati | Jul. 23, 2026 | 5:00 AM

Courtesy Heather Girves

Any time customers would visit The Gardener of Bath, the door was slightly ajar, always welcoming them to a place of unique gifts, delicious ice cream and a roaming store cat. The beloved community gift shop closed down after twenty years in business, and residents of the Bath area will miss the homey atmosphere. With wooden walls and floors and herbal candle scents filling the air, the space was small, but the products could entertain customers for hours.

“The store is really about culture,” Heather Girves, co-owner of The Gardener of Bath, says, “It’s really about cultivating your space and relationship to each other and the things within your space.”

Courtesy Heather Girves

In April of 2006, Justin Girves worked with his mom to start The Gardener of Bath, which began as a garden center as well as a gift shop. Once the store began focusing on products like trollbeads and trendy jewelry, it departed from its reputation of a garden center with few customers.

“We actually, in two years, became one of the biggest dealers in the nation,” Justin says, “which made no sense at all. It was shocking to the entire corporate culture.”

Once the pandemic hit and consumer patterns changed, The Gardener of Bath reverted to just a small-town gift shop. It was an adjustment for the pair to deal with a drastic depletion of energy in the store.

According to Justin, this is an issue for small businesses anywhere, as people have become more accustomed to shopping online. Heather says she saw a lot of showrooming, where customers would come in, find something they like, then find it on Amazon for a cheaper price.

“If they can get $5 off there, it’s $5 off to them,” Heather says, “but it’s actually our livelihood.”

Due to the lack of activity in the store, the pair had been talking about closing down for the past year. What solidified their decision was the growth of their ice cream brand, Henry’s Creamery, which they began selling at The Gardener of Bath in 2019.

Heather attended school for baking and pastry arts, and has decided to keep her skills within that realm, making fresh homemade ice cream that Henry’s Creamery is known for.

“We’re starting with cream, milk, sugar and eggs,” Justin says. “I don’t know anyone else that’s doing that.”

When Henry’s began, Heather and Justin were offered a trailer to sell the ice cream, and though skeptical, they were quickly relieved to choose that over a physical location. Now, the Henry’s trailer is widely recognized and has offered the company more mobility since starting.

Last year, the duo got their first wholesale account, so Henry’s ice cream can now be found in Mustard Seed Markets in Akron and the Purplebrown Farm Store in Peninsula. Once summer is over and their work with The Gardener of Bath has concluded, they plan to expand Henry’s Creamery; the pair has already begun investing in a second trailer.

Courtesy Heather Girves

Though excited for the future, Heather says she will miss interacting with customers and forming relationships with each person who shopped at The Gardener of Bath. While this aspect of small business is loved by communities, a larger structural issue is impacting these intimate shops.

“If you ask anyone, they want small business diversity, they like shopping small, they like the charm,” Justin says. “But their behaviors are not in line with promoting and maintaining that.”