Here are 1-3 brief analogies for GrowGeneration (GRWG):

• The Home Depot for indoor and hydroponic gardening.

• Tractor Supply Co. for modern indoor agriculture and cannabis cultivation.

• Grainger for the hydroponics and cannabis growing industry.

• Hydroponic & Organic Growing Equipment: Sells a comprehensive selection of hardware for indoor and outdoor cultivation, including grow lights, environmental controls, and irrigation systems.
• Plant Nutrients & Supplements: Offers a wide array of fertilizers, additives, and pest management solutions designed to optimize plant health and yield.
• Growing Media: Provides various cultivation substrates such as rockwool, coco coir, and specialty soils for diverse growing needs.
• Retail Store Services: Delivers personalized product guidance, operational support, and expert cultivation advice through its network of physical retail locations.
• E-commerce Platform: Offers convenient online shopping and direct shipping for its extensive range of hydroponic and organic gardening products.

GrowGeneration (GRWG) primarily sells to other companies, specifically commercial growers, which account for approximately 75% of its total revenue. However, due to the fragmented nature of the cannabis and specialty crop cultivation industry, these customers are typically numerous small-to-medium-sized private businesses rather than a few large, publicly traded entities whose names would be disclosed as major customers.

Therefore, instead of listing specific company names, the company's customer base can be best described by the following categories of growers it serves:

• Commercial Growers: These are licensed businesses involved in large-scale cultivation of cannabis and other high-value specialty crops (e.g., certain fruits, vegetables, or flowers) for commercial sale. They include various types of operations, from multi-state operators (MSOs) and large indoor farms to mid-sized greenhouses, all requiring professional-grade hydroponic, organic, and cultivation supplies in bulk quantities. This category represents the majority of GrowGeneration's sales.

• Small-to-Medium Business (SMB) / Craft Growers: This category comprises smaller commercial operations, including craft cannabis cultivators and emerging agricultural businesses. While smaller in scale than larger commercial enterprises, they still rely on GrowGeneration for specialized products and expertise to run their commercial growing operations.

• Home / Retail Growers: These are individual hobbyists or small-scale cultivators who grow plants for personal use or passion. They purchase a variety of hydroponic and organic gardening supplies, equipment, and nutrients through GrowGeneration's retail stores and e-commerce platform. This category accounts for the remaining portion of GrowGeneration's revenue.

Darren Lampert, CEO & Co-Founder

Mr. Lampert has served as the CEO and Co-Founder of GrowGeneration since March 2014. Before co-founding GrowGeneration, he was a Portfolio Manager at Schonfeld Securities from 2001 to 2007. From 1986 to 2001, he was a Partner at Lampert & Lampert, specializing in securities litigation, NASD compliance, arbitration, and corporate finance matters. He also worked as a private investor from 2010 to 2014. Mr. Lampert has extensive experience in finance and investment banking, including capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate strategy.

Greg Sanders, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Sanders was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in August 2022. Prior to this, he served as GrowGeneration's Vice President and Corporate Controller for nearly five years. His background includes public company experience in various accounting positions for Enterprise Holdings and Arrow Electronics. Mr. Sanders also led the Finance and Accounting Department, as well as Administrative and Human Resources functions, for Machol & Johannes LLC.

Michael Salaman, President & Co-Founder

Mr. Salaman has been the President and a Director of GrowGeneration since its inception in 2014. He began his career as Vice President of Business Development for National Media Corp. from 1985 to 1993. From 1995 to 2001, he founded American Interactive Media, Inc., a digital media company. Mr. Salaman also served as Chairperson of Skinny Nutritional Corp. from 2002 to 2014 and as CEO and President from 2010 to 2014.

Bob Nardelli, Senior Strategic Advisor

Mr. Nardelli has served as a Senior Strategic Advisor to GrowGeneration since 2019. He is the Founder and CEO of XLR-8 LLC, an investment and consulting company, which he formed in 2012. He is also a Senior Operating Partner to Core Industrial Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Mr. Nardelli was a Senior Advisor and CEO of Cerberus Operations & Advisory Company, LLC from 2007 to 2015, and prior to that, he was Chairman and CEO of Chrysler, LLC from 2007 to 2009. From 2000 to 2007, he served as Chairman, President, and CEO of The Home Depot.

Laura Beane, Vice President, Supply Chain

Ms. Beane joined GrowGeneration as the VP, Supply Chain in April 2024, where she is responsible for all warehouse and distribution operations. She is an Operations Executive with over a decade of experience in enterprise performance improvement and strategy development within the retail grocery and cannabis industries.

The key risks to GrowGeneration's business include:

1. Industry-Wide Demand Slump and Challenging Cannabis Industry Conditions: GrowGeneration operates in the hydroponics market, which is significantly tied to cannabis cultivation. The company is facing a prolonged slump due to market oversupply, price compression, and evolving regulatory landscapes that have shifted towards favoring larger commercial growers over smaller cultivators and individual consumers. This has resulted in a softness in business-to-consumer demand, leading to declining revenues and persistent net losses for GrowGeneration.
2. Regulatory and Trade Policy Volatility: The company is highly susceptible to changes in U.S. cannabis reform and global trade policies. Regulatory uncertainties, such as the potential rescheduling of cannabis and the associated impact on 280E taxation for its customers, directly influence the operational costs and investment caution of GrowGeneration's client base, thereby affecting its business. Tariff risks are also a concern that can impact procurement costs.
3. Operational Execution and Profitability Challenges: GrowGeneration has faced significant operational hurdles, including ongoing revenue declines and an inability to achieve consistent profitability. Despite strategic pivots towards a business-to-business (B2B) model and an emphasis on proprietary brands, the company continues to report net losses and negative operating cash flow. Furthermore, the company has identified material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting, which could adversely affect financial reporting accuracy and investor confidence.

GrowGeneration (GRWG) faces a clear emerging threat from intensifying pricing pressure and heightened competition within the hydroponic and organic grow supply market. This threat is primarily driven by:

1. Maturation and oversupply in the cannabis industry: As GrowGeneration's primary customer base (cannabis cultivators) experiences significant price compression and financial headwinds due to oversupply in various state markets, they are aggressively focused on cost-cutting. This directly translates into downward pressure on grow supply prices.
2. Increased direct sourcing and alternative channels: Larger cannabis multi-state operators (MSOs) are increasingly leveraging their scale to purchase directly from manufacturers or develop their own vertically integrated supply chain solutions, bypassing traditional retailers like GrowGeneration. Concurrently, the proliferation of online grow supply retailers and manufacturers offering direct-to-consumer sales further fragments the market and intensifies competition for GRWG's customer base.

GrowGeneration (GRWG) operates within several significant addressable markets primarily focused on the United States, given its position as the largest chain of specialty retail hydroponic and organic garden centers in the U.S.. The company provides a wide array of products and services for indoor and outdoor hydroponic and organic gardening, including nutrients, lighting, environmental control systems, and customized storage solutions.

• U.S. Hydroponics Market: This market, directly related to GrowGeneration's core offerings, was estimated at approximately USD 506.25 million in 2023 and is projected to grow to about USD 995.61 million by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7% from 2024 to 2030. Another estimate projects the U.S. hydroponics market to be valued at USD 4.2 billion in 2024 and reach USD 15.1 billion by 2033, demonstrating a CAGR of 15.2%. North America holds a substantial share of the global hydroponics market.

• U.S. Indoor Farming Market: GrowGeneration's products and services also cater to the broader U.S. indoor farming market. This market was valued at USD 3.99 billion in 2023, expected to reach USD 4.40 billion in 2024, and is projected to grow to USD 8.64 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 11.9% from 2024 to 2030. Within this market, hydroponics constitutes the largest segment, accounting for over 56% in 2023.

• U.S. Cannabis Cultivation Market: A significant portion of GrowGeneration's addressable market is the cannabis cultivation industry in the U.S. The medical and recreational marijuana growing market in the U.S. was estimated at USD 18.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to be USD 19.8 billion in 2025. The overall U.S. cannabis market size was estimated at USD 38.50 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 76.39 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 11.51% from 2025 to 2030. The total addressable cannabis market in the U.S. is projected to reach USD 33.6 billion by 2025. Indoor cultivation dominates this market, representing 54.8% of the revenue share in 2024.

1. Expansion of Proprietary Brands: The company is heavily focused on increasing the penetration of its proprietary brands within its cultivation and gardening sales. Management is targeting proprietary brand mix to reach approximately 40% of cultivation and gardening sales by 2026, up from 31.6% in Q3 2025. This focus is expected to drive margin expansion and enhance customer loyalty. GrowGeneration plans to add approximately 50 new products to its proprietary brands lineup over the next 12 months and continue launching e-commerce-enabled, brand-specific websites.
2. Growth in Business-to-Business (B2B) and Commercial Channels: GrowGeneration is expanding its reach beyond its traditional retail footprint by scaling B2B portal automation and increasing recurring commercial orders. This includes efforts to expand revenue across independent garden centers, greenhouse agriculture, specialty crops, and cannabis. The company launched wholesale partnerships, such as with Arett Sales, to expand into new markets with minimal capital investment. They also plan to launch a B2B e-commerce portal to migrate transactional activity online.
3. Cultivation Infrastructure Projects (GrowGeneration Build): The company is actively pursuing cultivation infrastructure projects, now branded as "GrowGeneration Build." This offering includes lighting, benching, fertigation, HVAC, irrigation, and automation systems, with over $7 million in such projects completed in Q3 2025. This segment is expected to be a meaningful contributor to revenue going forward.
4. Strategic Market Expansion and Optimization: While the company has optimized its retail footprint by closing underperforming stores, it continues to expand its market presence through strategic distribution partnerships and a focus on higher-volume, higher-margin markets. The controlled environmental agriculture (CEA) industry is seen as being in the early stages of its growth cycle, offering substantial runway for GrowGeneration. The company is broadening its reach beyond just cannabis into larger specialty agriculture and controlled environmental markets.

Share Repurchases

• GrowGeneration authorized its first share repurchase program on March 20, 2024, for up to $6.0 million of its common stock.
• The share repurchase program commenced on April 1, 2024.
• Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024, was $6.2 million, primarily due to common stock repurchased under this program.

Share Issuance

• In June 2020, GrowGeneration offered $35,000,000 of shares of its common stock.
• As of March 10, 2025, the company had 59,458,017 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.
• As of September 30, 2025, there were 59,843,443 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.

Outbound Investments

• GrowGeneration acquired Viagrow, which expanded its presence in the home gardening market and its distribution through major retailers.
• In June 2025, the company entered a distribution agreement with V1 Solutions to be its sales and marketing partner for proprietary product lines across the European Union.
• The company also launched its proprietary brands in Costa Rica in June 2025.

Capital Expenditures

• GrowGeneration's strategic focus includes expanding commercial sales to large cultivators, growing wholesale and distribution capabilities, and promoting its proprietary brands.
• The company does not evaluate segments by capital expenditures as it is not practical and does not inform its decision-making processes.
• GrowGeneration has been engaged in operational streamlining, including closing stores and reducing operating expenses, which is expected to result in approximately $12 million in annual savings.