When the Malmassari family took over the Kent East Hill Nursery in 2017, it was after Darren Malmassari had been a manager at the business for nearly 20 years.
“We just moved here from Renton and we actually got some bark delivered to our house right across the street,” said Becca Pimentel, daughter of Darren and Launice and current co-manager at the garden center and nursery. “And the driver, who was the [now former] owner, said, ‘Do you want a job?’ And my dad ended up being here, managing the nursery. And all those years, 1998 to 2017 he was managing and then it came about that they were going to sell, and my dad purchased the business with my mom.”
Pimentel, who manages the business with her brother Ryan Malmassari, says that when her family took over East Hill Nursery, it had already been well established in the community but that they had taken the business to the next level, initiating upgrades and new ways to better assist customers.
The Malmassaris had paved the parking lot, added new signs, expanded the impressive and diverse indoor plants department and organized the large, outdoors plant, flower and tree sections.
“We don’t have time to work in our yards, so our passion is to help other people have a beauty in their yard,” said Pimentel. “And when people come in here and show us pictures, we’re able to design their yards with them. We’re able to get the joy out of seeing their new yards and feeling that same joy that we would have as we were doing our yards.”
Sitting on four acres, the Nursery not only provides landscaping needs that include bark and mulch but also fruit trees, perennials, annuals, pothos, gardening tools, garden ornaments and garden-related accessories like “Dead Plant Club” t-shirts or Montera-shaped hair clops. The East Hill Nursery has also increased its reach thanks to a website that allows customers to make orders for as far and wide as the east coast. The East Hill Nursery also provides expert landscape designers and workers who bring enthusiasm and an ability to learn as well as assist.
“Sometimes we hire staff that doesn’t have any knowledge at all, and it’s fun because they get to be out there and be hands on. You can go to school for all this, but in the end, it’s really getting your hands dirty and working with the plant and realizing what works well in a landscape and what doesn’t, what stays evergreen, what doesn’t stay evergreen, what’s deciduous. So the hiring process is all about customer service,” said Pimentel.
As for recent changes and the future of the business, the Malmassaris recently acquired the Covington Creek Nursery, a five-acre nursery less than eight miles away in Auburn. Pimentel also says that the East Hill Nursery currently provide wreath-making classes for the holiday season but that they hope to figure out a space where more gardening and plant-related classes can take place throughout the year.
“It’s very rewarding, at the end of the day, when you sit down and look at what we have to be grateful for and it’s rewarding with customers getting to work with their yards,” Pimentel said.
For more information on Kent East Hill Nursery, wreath-making classes and more, visit kenteasthillnursery.com or call 253-631-5320. Kent East Hill Nursery is located at 11644 Southeast 240th Street in Kent.
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The Kent East Hill Nursery is well-known for its robust indoor plant department. Photo by Bailey Jo Josie/Sound Publishing.
