Act V: Becoming A Botanical Department Store
I feel compelled to begin by thanking all of you “regulars” out there who’ve continued showing up and popping in to check on me and the Shop over these last few heavy months. I think it bears repeating: you showing up helps me keep showing up.
I’m here because you are. Period.
Taking a few minutes to visit a local shop every few weeks adds up.
Emotionally, mentally, and financially, no matter the business. It refills all the tanks.
Also, a thank you to the many new faces who have stopped by lately. Folks who recently moved to town for a new job, students back at Notre Dame or St. Mary’s, or former residents back for a visit and on a tiny little adventure to rediscover this place they once called home.
It takes a village. Always.
Anyhow, I mention this because I think it underscores a fundamental truth of this moment in particular: putting our feet, time, and our dollars behind the things we care about adds up, and it makes a difference.
Decisions are made by those who show up.
This is how you cultivate community.
It requests, invites, and requires of us to participate.
Just Keep Swimming
Not long ago I described shopping local as an act of resistance, and I believe that still holds true. The funny thing is that, eventually, acts of resistance can and do overtime reshape society, place, and culture into a new normal through our habits, patterns, beliefs, and behaviors.
How and what we choose to cultivate, and where, matters.
I recently came upon a nonprofit organization on a mission to support local retailers called Heart on Main Street. If you’re an owner, I highly recommend paying their website a visit. I think their name just about says it all, don’t you?
Heart on Main hosts these great free webinars for independent retailers (yes, free, no paywall), and I’ve been binge-watching their catalog of recordings all the way back to 2023. They’re all ad-free since they’re not monetizing content, something I think is worth mentioning, too. In this day in age, that speaks to both authenticity and a genuine care for the public good, in my opinion.
I’m going somewhere with this, bear with me.
Living Inside a Renovation
Inspired in large part by the guidance and practical inspiration shared by Heart on Main, if you’ve been in to the Shop more than once in the past three months, you’ve likely/hopefully taken notice of several shifts taking place in the space, from furniture in new places to denser shelving and new goods.
There’s also been a community focus group invitation in the back corner, which after being up for about 8 weeks has (for now) been retired.
There are some great responses, and I’m so grateful for your input and ideas. Some of them are already in motion, and others are going into the “idea hopper” for down the road. All of them are helpful, good, seen, and appreciated.
To be continued, soon.
In place of the focus group, new floating shelves arrived today, along with a new hand-built feature table for the main floor of the Shop (see below), right as you walk in. I’ve been making do with a folding table and drop cloth for a few weeks to test the concept, and now the final fixture is in place.
The table and shelves were hand-built and lovingly crafted/installed by my artisan/machinist/carpenter dad, who’s responsible now for a number of the one-of-a-kind features around and within Botany & Co. including the plant shelf windows and the TLND fence and main gate, to name a few of the biggest projects (there are more).
Also worth mentioning, most all of the original timber came from around my childhood home or repurposed from sites nearby, all sawn by my dad at a local sawmill, then finished, sealed, cured, and finally, delivered and installed by him, too.
There’s so much love in these shelves. Literally.
“What are destined for these new shelves,” I hear you asking.
Stay with me…
Becoming a “Department” Store
From the beginning, The Botany Shop has included a mix of home goods and gifts along with plants. The balance has ebbed and flowed over the years, driven by customer requests and market forces beyond our control.
Take for example a ‘Thai Constellation’ Monstera in a 4” pot with 5-7 healthy leaves would have sold for $250+ back in 2022. Today, Meijer, a big box store seven minutes away, has them in their floral department for $35/ea. Trays of them.
Supply has caught up with demand, and economic forces have done what they always do. I watched a flurry of plant shops close across the country starting in 2023-2024 as the winds changed quickly. It seems to have calmed down a bit these days, and those of us that survived seem to share one thing in common.
We carry more than plants.
Coming Soon to a Shop Near You
I’m a visual person, and so I wanted to share a before and after with you in a way that makes sense to my brain. Hopefully it’s helpful for you.
In many ways, the Shop configuration from November 2025 - June 2026 was the result of our being spread too thin due to attempting to run The Lot Next Door as a second store/nursery. This is the root cause of why I opted to shift gears into the community venue model for TLND that I shared in Act I.
The Shop is literally the engine that powers Botany & Co. today, and I realized it was breathing with only one lung back in June. The last three months have been about getting both lungs going again. (During our slowest season financially and busiest season work-load wise, woo!)
Soon – very soon – we’ll be there.
By early November, The Botany Shop will be fully remade heading in to the holidays, with five defined departments on full display, including;
The Plant Shop (upgraded today)
Gift & Home (about to get bigger)
Kitchen & Living (emerging as we speak)
Hobby & Kids (coming early November)
Learning & Experiences (rebooting now)
Let’s Light Up These Rooms
I’ve decided to host a Holiday Open House for the weekend of November 7-8. It’ll be a mashup of events we’ve hosted in the past, including Customer Appreciation and a Holiday Preview Party. Expect elevated hospitality and refreshments, tons of new goods, festive décor, giveaways, and some other surprises I can’t talk about yet.
I’ll be dropping more details throughout October.
For now, I hope you’ll save the dates.
The big news that weekend will be the grand opening of two newly rethemed spaces, a new room for Hobbies, Crafts, & Kids (mood board below) and a rebooted classroom and gathering space, an ever-shifting “Room of Requirement”. That renovation is already underway.
The weirdly ominous and unto now amorphous “back room” will be opening to the public for the first time – on the regular. This “Room of Requirement” will change shape throughout the year to fit the season at hand, and by the end of October we’ll be gearing up for making wreaths.
Help me come up with a name that’ll stick for this space… welcoming suggestions.
Wreath workshop tickets are live now, and they’ll be the first series happening in this fully reimagined and realized space for learning, creating, beauty, connection, and community.
If you’re interested in a private holiday gathering, now is the time to reach out.
Here’s a “work in progress” preview of the new Room of Requirement from last week’s flower garland class.
I know today’s was a longer note. If you’re still with me, thank you.
My goal in this Act series has been to peel back the veil a bit, to unpack and share forward the inner workings of a local and independent brick and mortar plant and gift shop: which now, apparently, is a botanical department store. :)
And I kinda really love that.
If you’re a fellow business owner reading this, I hope there’s a grain of insight or a new idea or perspective this sparks for you. Maybe it inspires you to make a bold, decisive move, or to get curious about something that’s felt scary up to now.
Name it to tame it. Do the thing.
I hope this writing also feels helpful to you, our customers. I hope it helps you plan your visit with more confidence and excitement. I hope it helps you invite friends and out of town visitors to join you on your next visit.
I hope it makes you proud to call this place home along with us.
And I hope you continue showing up for every local and independent brick and mortar business you care about right now.
This isn’t just about us. It’s about cultivating ecosystems.
Yet another lesson derived from time spent in the soil, surrounded by plants.
Be strong and of good courage.
See you soon, neighbors.
Ben | Founder & Owner