Prior to 1975 when Terra Products came to Lakeville MN the original owners, Tim and Dan, had started selling green plants from a garage in Minneapolis. As the business grew they purchased land in Lakeville and moved here where the business continues to operate from today.
The land had greenhouses which allowed them to increase their plant growing and offer more products. As their business grew larger they started selling wholesale plants and plastic decorative containers to garden centers and floral shops, mostly in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The business grew rapidly after they had moved to Lakeville and they built new glass houses and a sales building to accommodate the larger business. There was an increased interest in the containers and they expanded their line of container products to include terracotta and glazed planters for plants and flowers.
Selling both plants and imported pottery and other containers wholesale to their customers required more effort and people and their team slowly grew to include growers and sales staff. Later Terra Products introduced metal plant hooks along with their plastic planters, imported glazed and terracotta planters. Terra Products delivered with our own trucks to customers in the upper Midwest and we became one of the largest domestic imported pottery distributors.
By 1983 Terra Products were doing so well with the wholesale business it was decided to open a retail department. In 1985 as the business had grown much larger through retail sales it was decided to split the two sides and move the wholesale division to another location just down the road from the original site which then became a retail greenhouse and garden center.
The new warehouse allowed Terra Products to expand the import business with pottery from several countries. The new facility contained storage, picking and packing areas together with a delivery dock. This was a vast improvement on the original site.
Terra Products was importing terracotta from Italy, glazed planters and cast iron planters from Vietnam, China, Malaysia and Thailand. We expanded our client base to include most states in the Midwest and some towards the coasts. The original owners had successfully grown the business from nothing and after thirty years decided to move on. In 2006 Terra Products changed ownership but not focus. More product ranges were introduced together with products from Mexico and occasionally Germany.
In 2014 Terra Products introduced our own designs in a range of Unique Vintage pottery through a special relationship with one kiln in Vietnam. These products have succeeded in setting us apart from other ‘conventional’ importers. We own the moulds for each item which were designed by our own staff and consultants.