Molbak's, the Garden That Grew a Town
Near Woodinville, Washington
For nearly seven decades, the beating heart of downtown Woodinville was not a winery but a greenhouse. Egon Molbak and his wife Laina were Danish immigrants. Egon first came to America in nineteen forty eight on an exchange program run by the American Scandinavian Foundation, fell in love with the country, and settled with Laina in the Seattle area in nineteen fifty.
In nineteen fifty six they bought a small greenhouse and nursery in Woodinville and slowly built it into an institution. For years they grew plants only for wholesale, but in nineteen sixty seven they opened a small seasonal retail shop, and Laina in particular pushed to welcome visitors in. It worked beyond anyone's dreams.
At its peak in two thousand six, the garden and home complex filled a building of roughly one hundred thirty eight thousand square feet on nineteen acres and drew about one million visitors a year, famous especially for its holiday poinsettias. Their son Jens, who founded the coin counting company Coinstar, bought the business from his parents in two thousand one. Egon lived to be one hundred years old.
After decades as a community landmark, Molbak's closed in January of two thousand twenty four and the buildings were later demolished to make way for redevelopment.
