Holub Gardens, a long-time fixture on Merle Hay Road in Johnston, has closed, and another, separately-owned Holub garden center on Des Moines’ south side is being closed at the end of August.

Jerry Holub, owner of the Johnston business, declined to comment Friday, but relatives confirmed that his store had been closed. An employee at Holub Garden Center and Greenhouses on Southeast 14th Street in Des Moines, which is owned by one of Holub’s sisters, said the Johnston store was closed on July 31.

Holub’s business telephone has been disconnected. Earlier this week, he asked the city to shut off water to his business, said Jim Sanders, city administrator in Johnston.

Holub’s parents, Dorothy and Albert, now deceased, established the wholesale and retail garden business bearing the family name 80 years ago in Oskaloosa, said Shirley Holub-Masterson, owner of the south-side store, as well as one in Oskaloosa.

In the 1970s, after their father died, she and her three brothers expanded the business into Des Moines and Ames, Holub-Masterson said.

She declined to comment on the closing of the Merle Hay Road store, and said the pending closing of her store on Southeast 14th Street is unrelated to the closing of her brother’s store.

“Our lease is up, and we do not feel like purchasing it. We’re moving everything back to the home operation in Oskaloosa,” said Holub-Masterson, who also operates seasonal gardening sales centers at grocery stores in the Des Moines area and in Ottumwa.

Her brother Michael Holub and his wife, Diane, own Holub Garden Center and Greenhouse east of Ames.