Chapters Online Inc. announced Thursday it is buying GardenCrazy.com in a deal worth about $1.8 million in stock.

Started in 1999 in Montreal, GardenCrazy.com is an online garden centre that also offers furniture and apparel. The site has about 45,000 members, said Chapters in a release.

"Entering the home and garden industry has been identified as a priority for Chapters Online in our strategy to offer our customers additional products and services," said Tony Rodrigues, Chapters Online's vice-president, Business Strategy, in a release.

"Key factors for our decision include the very large, growing market for home and garden products in Canada, the opportunity to offer customers unrivalled product selection, convenience and information, and the significant cross-marketing opportunities that exist both with Chapters Inc. and Chapters.ca customers."

With the acquisition of GardenCrazy.com, Chapters plans to start up a new Web site, with a separate URL from www.chapters.ca, although a launch date was not announced.

Chapters said the new site will eventually expand into kitchen, cooking and home decor products.