In the summer of 2018, Billy took a cross-continental road trip through Canada to the Pacific Ocean and back through the Northern United States while Pat stayed back in Buffalo to hold down the fort. Along the way, Billy visited countless locations that sparked inspiration for Daddy’s Plants. This post is about one of those places.
PAT: You spent some time in Seattle on your road trip. What did you discover?
BILLY: I was really carried away by Seattle and almost didn’t get to visit any houseplant shops! I stopped in a cute cat cafe (nekoseattle.com) to grab a coffee for the road as I headed east and ended up chatting with the owner about her experience starting a business. Honestly, some of the best advice came out of this random visit. She told me three things: Always accept help when it’s offered, people are more willing to collaborate than you think and when you feel the most in over your head, you’re doing something right with your new business. And of course, the great tip to visit a plant shop called Plant Shop just down the block! I wasn’t going to leave Seattle empty handed!
P: Ooh, so what was Plant Shop like?
B: Plant Shop has two locations, and I visited the one in Capitol Hill. It definitely had the most windows and the most plants! Seriously, floor to ceiling windows is the dream for any plant shop. It allows you to take control on the light needs by starting with all of the light and reducing it when needed. Plant Shop is set up like a duplex, which makes the plants completely immerse customers on both floors. I mean, every inch was covered in foliage and I can only imagine the air quality was fantastic.
The vibe was chill and lush; the staff members were busy doing their rounds recording soil moisture on every plant in their urban jungle. I’m really looking forward to being overly attentive to our in-stock greenery when we find our own place, plus their quantity of plants partly inspired our oasis pop-up setup.
P: Did you get to have conversations with anyone that worked there?
B: I chatted with some of their team about my cross-country drive and finding inspiration from the houseplant scene in all of the cities along the way. One topic we talked about was the balance of sourcing and/or propagating plants for a retail business, which is my own internal debate. I love to propagate, but you’d need to scale up and have more time and a greenhouse to do it successfully. I also really appreciate working with wholesalers, it’s a special relationship and allows you the ability to handpick what you’re stocking.
P: What inspired you the most about Plant Shop?
B: Location, location, location. Plant Shop’s floor-to-ceiling windows wrap around a corner facing west and north. This allows for the spectrum of lighting options without directly baking the plants in a south-facing window, and avoiding the restrictions on a north-facing or east-facing window. Want to have a jungle in your shop? You need to consider where your light in coming from in your retail location.
Visit Plant Shop.
Website: plantshopseattle.com
Facebook: facebook.com/plantshopseattle
Instagram: instagram.com/plantshopseattle
