California-based Armstrong Garden Centers plans to build two metro Atlanta Pike Nurseries stores, rebuild or remodel four others and expand the chain's presence in Charlotte with four new stores, CEO Mike Kunce said Thursday.

The company also announced that it will keep the headquarters of its Pike subsidiary in Gwinnett, moving from 43,000 square feet of office and warehouse space on Steve Reynolds Boulevard to 8,800 square feet in the Park Summit office building in Duluth.

Kunce said the company will move to its new offices in August but said he had no timetable for store construction plans in metro Atlanta or Charlotte.

He said metro Atlanta's continuing drought has pushed sales down 24 percent from the previous year but added that he sees a strong future for the company's garden centers.

"I wouldn't have poured the money I poured into it if I didn't think there was an opportunity here," he said.

Armstrong, the nation's No. 2 independent garden chain, bought No. 1-ranked Pike in March for $5.2 million. Pike had been in bankruptcy for three months when a federal judge approved the sale.

Pike will build new stores in Alpharetta and the Snellville area; rebuild stores on Lawrenceville Highway in Tucker and Holcomb Bridge Road in Alpharetta; and remodel its locations on Johnson Ferry Road in Marietta and in Buckhead, Kunce said.

The company also plans to expand its current one-store presence in Charlotte by four new stores.

Pike will likely hire three or four new employees at its regional headquarters once the expansion plans are under way, but Kunce said he did not anticipate a significant increase in the work force at the regional headquarters. Pike's offices are moving to the smaller space because the company no longer needs the warehouse space at the Steve Reynolds location. Pike's wholesale division was sold off to other companies.

Currently 28 people work at the Pike offices, including regional managers, buyers, advertising and marketing executives. The company has about 500 employees total, Kunce said.

Armstrong, which operates 34 garden centers in California, has 700 employees.