We recently connected with Aleah Tucker and have shared our conversation below.

Aleah, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I came up with the idea for Indie Earth with absolutely no intention of opening a store. Truthfully, my family and I were chatting about an empty storefront in the center of downtown Buffalo. We were going back and forth on things we thought would work well there. Things Buffalo lacked, and things that could go in there to better our community. I casually noted that we didn’t have any true record stores, nor did we have any places to purchase indoor houseplants. The more I thought about that, the more I felt like that would be such a fun combination in a single storefront. While both records and plants are very trendy, they both have a certain longevity to them.

Once I made the decision that I was going to open this hybrid record/plant shop, I never really considered a world where it didn’t succeed. I knew that I was really excited about the prospect of this store, and If I thought it was really cool, then there had to be other people who would think its cool too. I mean, who has ever heard of anything like it? I know I hadn’t – even after extensive googling.

We have been open for about a year and a half now, and I am happy to report that we are thriving. Other people did in fact, think it’s a cool idea.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

If this is your first time hearing about Indie Earth, let me formally introduce what we do. Indie Earth is the first combination plant shop and record store. Up front you can find a unique assortment of plants, pots, and planty accessories. Towards the back you can enter “The Listening Room” where you can find hundreds of newly pressed records. We primarily specialize in indie/pop, with a mix of other genres such as alternative, folk, r&b, and rock.

One thing I am incredibly proud of when It comes to this shop is the amazing community we have fostered here. It was always very important to me that this was an accepting, open, and friendly space. One similarity between the houseplant community and the record/music community is that it can be very competitive and exclusionary. Those were not things I have any interest in perpetuation. I want people to be able to come into Indie Earth and know that they are welcome no matter their experience level in the hobbies we specialize in.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Marketing is at least 60% off running a successful business. You can have the best store in the whole world, but if you cannot get people in your doors, you can’t succeed. I find that the best way to market in 2024 is through social media. The value that comes from being able to personally connect with people in these online spaces is unmatched.

Here at Indie Earth we have been grinding social media since the very beginning. It doesn’t always happen fast. I know it didn’t for us. The strategies vary platform to platform, but the consistency is really the main key. Before we even opened our doors we started posting daily on all the majors: Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook. Really focusing our content on what would be interesting or educational to our target demographic. For us the goal is community and connection over gaining followers – but gaining followers is nice too.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

As much as we use social media to build community, we use it to foster the community we already have. We take it a step further than just posting the products we have and have a very honest approach. We show the behind the scenes work, we show the things we are still improving, we show the things that are going well too. This allows our audience to connect with our brand on a more intimate level.

As a small business, we are able to use social media to show our customers how their support directly impacts us as people. This is what really keeps people invested in our brand. When they get to see how their individual purchase and support allows us to grow and do better, our customers feel like they are apart of something bigger – and they are.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.indieearthllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indie_earth_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084856775164
• Twitter: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FIndie_Earth%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3SY0OBi1eYHb9JqMSONR8xCx_42TFrqZcNRJ1ulruXLhkNBs20BzeSHs4_aem_AYYcOnOE5ulziHYcMg2jJo06gh4GlNOYzQ2H3oZMWQtn6k2S19Dqh4h3gJMhGjfUV_Y4dbwv-ts_0QfdsUbVRQrm&h=AT2c4yyV60-7LoaEQ44O8dgrxUr92Wr7aX1n3EpufgEIBn4626hyr7UGoX2OB3ZZ4FT_fPWctpu0Ubwh127zZLR4lmsh3o9niZxWEjNkEi0RRIFbnojbRy2lmv-nrsQJ12cNz9FvtA
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/indie-earth-buffalo
• Other: Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@Indie_Earth?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1PV0N9SFE-B25IO3tPoZXUgjBNJDYE2Mm73GtUDCq5pmdOGFW7OJzGYB8_aem_AYb8QLq9lCnWoHNGmgTiuilqXCRcjV1AxmccmxRhZnrqpXzigAWdCiTBGNTl5hy74EhdA3Qn_05qBKEFVAq8yBdM

Image Credits
Jennifer Pierce (@jpiercepictures)