Saks of Flower

Smith & Hawken (Novato, Calif.) has announced it will open concept shops inside 20 department stores of Saks Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.). department stores. The shops will carry outdoor furniture, gardening tools, copper watering cans and pots, decorative pottery and plant containers.

The announcement comes a few days after Saks'announcement that it would be introducing Scooby-Doo and Powerpuff Girls shops (from AOL Time Warner) in 31 of its stores.

“This new relationship with Smith & Hawken . . .will meet the lifestyle needs of our customers,” said George Jones, president and ceo of Saks Department Store Group, “as well as support our strategic initiative of differentiation by providing our customers unique and distinctive product offerings.”

The shops will go into three Parisian stores in Alabama and Tennessee; four Proffitt's stores in Tennessee; six McRae's stores in Mississippi, Florida and Alabama; a Younkers store in Des Moines, Iowa; a Herberger's store in Roseville, Minn.; two Carson Pirie Scott stores in Illinois; a Bergner's store in Champaign, Ill.; and two Boston Stores in Wisconsin.

Smith & Hawken, founded in 1979 to import British garden tools, now operates 45 upscale home and garden centers in 19 states, selling specialty garden tools, furniture, workwear, housewares, plants, bulbs, containers and books. This is its first branded foray into someone else's stores.