About Us
Poor Boys Garden & Hearth is the product of over 20 years of Mike Tyson's sweat and tears. We are not referring to the world renowned boxer here, but rather the locally famous and prominent Dundalk resident, who has built his Baltimore Ravens & Orioles fan store, garden, hearth, fire place and stove business up from scratch. Poor Boys Garden & Hearth is an integral part of the Dundalk community, and has grown through Mike's personal investment and devotion into an established business. The individual service and attention that clients receive from Mike and his dedicated staff members keeps customers coming back to Poor Boys Garden & Hearth again and again.
Poor Boys Garden & Hearth began as a small project initiated through Mike's relationship with his big brother from the Big Brother Program,Greg Dapkowski. At the tender, young age of 10 years, Mike was already learning the valuable business traits that would later earn him everything he had ever dreamed of. Greg had his own fresh produce business and immediately set Mike to work bagging tomatoes and helping out around the produce stand. Soon he was driving his trucks around and by age 20, Mike had started up his own produce stand with his childhood friend, Terry Gerahty. The success of this small time venture astounded them, and soon they stretched their reach to encompass flowers in the mix of fresh produce on sale.
The years spent conceptualizing and creating Poor Boys Garden & Hearth, were not without hard work and perseverance. These years brought Mike through very tough times where most people would throw in the towel, but they persisted. The success was also not without support from local friends such as John Hwang, who assisted as much as possible and allowed the use of his land to set up business from. After three or four years a name was decided upon for their business, Poor Boys Produce.
In 1993 old friend, John Hwang, built a garage on his property that Poor Boys were able to use as a permanent structure to conduct business from. They were selling flowers from Hwang's garage and produce from Valley Views Farms, and soon started adding country crafts and candles to their store collection. In recent times, Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore Ravens merchandise, stoves and fireplaces were added to the register bringing Poor Boys Produce into the present day as Poor Boys Garden & Hearth.
Looking back over the years of Poor Boys growth and development brings a nostalgic journey to life for Mike Tyson. The dedication and love that has been put into this business is evident to the customers and has also melted into the members of staff.
As trend setters for Baltimore Ravens fan merchandise and suppliers of leading brands in the fireplace, stove and hearth market, Poor Boys Garden & Hearth have not let their success go to their heads. But they rather maintain a personal approach to business that has allowed their local notoriety to spread far and wide through word of mouth.