Nursery Supplies Inc.

Nursery Supplies Inc. (NSI) is the world's leading manufacturer of plastic containers for the wholesale nursery industry. Originally called Farm Supplies, the company was founded by Theodore J. Guarriello Sr., as an offshoot of a northern New Jersey farmers' cooperative. In its early days, the company marketed such products as bushel baskets, apple crates and seedling trays to what was then called the "truck farm" industry in the Metropolitan New York and Philadelphia areas.

Ted Guarriello Sr. had an intuitive marketing sense and led the company to become the country's first producer of plastic containers for the nursery industry. The company grew steadily throughout the early 60s. By 1966, Ted's oldest son, Henry, had become active in the firm, and the company was incorporated under the name Nursery Supplies.

By the early 1970s, the nursery industry had grown tremendously and large markets were developing for the company¹s products in areas such as Florida and Southern California where tree growing continued year round. In 1976, the company undertook its first major expansion by opening a plant in Southern California, managed by Ted's youngest son Ted Jr., and his daughter Rita.

Demand also increased on the East Coast, and in 1979 the company moved its headquarters from northern New Jersey to more spacious quarters in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. Since then, the company has made several additional moves to keep up with their growing markets: a Northwest facility was opened in 1984 which has since moved to larger quarters near Portland, Oregon; the California facility was moved to Orange, California, to meet its expansion needs; and the East Coast facility was moved to a new site in rural Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

In March of 2000, Nursery Supplies Inc. merged with The Lerio Corporation to form a single entity with four manufacturing locations strategically located around the country. The driving force behind the merger was the need to maximize efficiency and deliver the best service to the customer.

Founder Ted Guarriello Sr. died January 15, 1998. But Nursery Supplies is ideally positioned to continue growing well into the next century managed by several generations of dynamic executives who literally grew up in the business.