Bob and Corena Barnitz began with two backyard greenhouses and a roadside produce stand in 1970. Bob’s Market & Greenhouses now includes 815,000 square feet of greenhouses in Mason County and five retail locations in West Virginia, Ohio and Georgia. Today, their five grown sons oversee various aspects of the business while Bob serves as company president.

“My wife and I started the business in 1970,” said Barnitz, who is now 79. “I grew up on a farm growing produce in Meigs County, Ohio. My father was a wholesale retail produce dealer. I joined my father in the late ‘50s. In 1959 I married Corena and we started a family.”

As they tended the business, their sons worked alongside them. All of the boys were athletic, with interests in football and basketball.

“When they were not busy with school and sports, they worked in the business,” he said. “My wife and I paid them minimum wage. They put the money in the bank and when the time came for a car or a motorbike, they had the money.

“For every hour they worked, their mother put the hours down. The business grew and we all have a good living. Today, all the sons and myself are equal owners of the business.”

The sons all have their respective niches. William “Bobby,” 50, is chief operating officer. Eric “Rick,” 49, is head grower. Scott, 48, manages the retail and rooted cutting divisions. Jeff, 43, oversees the fleet of 17 trucks and manages maintenance. John, 38, is in charge of production and sales.

Aside from family members, the business has 134 full-time employees. During peak season from January to May, the number of employees mushrooms to 225. The business also runs with huge machines that mix soil, transplant and sow seeds.

“We sell plants in March, April and May when there is no fresh produce,” Bob Barnitz said. “We sell mums in September and poinsettias at Christmas.

The main production area is in Mason with 18.7 acres of sprawling greenhouses that are now blanketed with colorful flowers and lush vegetable plants. Products are trucked to Florida, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Mississippi and all points in between. Retail locations are in Mason; Parkersburg; Gallipolis, Ohio; Belpre, Ohio; and Atlanta, Ga.

Among goods produced this year will be 120,000 hanging baskets, 50,000 flats of annuals, 300,000 plug seedlings and millions of individual seedlings. Bob’s Market is a seedling supplier for Ball Seed Co.

Barnitz and his sons say the business has blossomed due to hard work, good products, integrity, and knowledge. All of these things have been passed from one generation to the next.

The company’s annual gross sales are $14 million.

Bob’s Market and Greenhouses of Mason, W.Va., was named Greenhouse Grower’s Operation of the Year.

Bob’s Market is hosting lunch during a day tour to their business on Thursday, October 13 from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.