Schools
EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Linda Patejdl, Class Of 1966
Patejdl and her husband have owned a small business in Michigan for nearly 40 years.
EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Owning a small business can become quite a challenge. All too often, many are forced to close shop after a short while even if the idea was a sound one.
But that’s not the case for the Sawyer Home & Garden Center in Southwest Michigan, which is going on nearly 40 years in business under owners Linda Patejdl, an Evergreen Park Community High School alum from the Class of 1966, and her husband, Barry.
“Evolving with customer’s expectations” is how the business at 5865 Sawyer Road in Sawyer, Michigan, has stayed open since 1986, Linda Patejdl said.
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According to the business’ website, Sawyer Home & Garden Center has “grown from a small garden center to the destination garden center of Harbor Country, Southwestern Michigan and beyond!”
It wasn’t Patejdl’s first try at owning a small business, however. She had been involved with several start-up businesses before opening the place, proving the adage that one’s first great idea isn’t necessarily the one that will work out.
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After graduating from EPCHS, Patejdl wasn’t planning on going into business at all. She originally enrolled at Southern Illinois University with the intention of becoming an art teacher, but then “detoured” to Michigan State University, where she studied landscape design.
It was her stellar experiences in art classes at EPCHS that originally led her in that direction.
“I loved my senior art class,” she said. “Art class with Mr. Brouilletee and Miss Kaiser were my best memories.”
Patejdl also remembers being part of girls intramural volleyball as an EPCHS student.
She’s now an integral part of the Southwest Michigan region known as Harbor Country, which, for many residents of Evergreen Park and surrounding Chicagoland communities, has become an ever-growing summer vacation destination.
“Harbor Country is an easy and quick drive from several populated areas,” Patejdl said. “(It has a) beautiful beach and a slower pace of life.”
Sawyer Home & Garden Center, she added, began as “a business that could grow with the community.”
Thirty-seven years later, it certainly has.
The business’ goal is “to create the ultimate shopping experience,” the website states.
“Customer service is not just important to us, it is vital to the life of our store. Come experience a home away from home and I am sure you will become a part of the SGC family, if you aren’t already.”
Patejdl said her future plans are to spend more time at her home in southwest Florida, turn the business over to her son and daughter and travel more.
