Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emma Crabtree. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Emma, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
In 2011, I decided to enroll in graduate school for counseling. I had been kinda floating, working restaurant jobs and odds and ends as I finished my undergrad in art, and then landed a job at Vanderbilt Medical working in a cancer research lab. My job was to work with the patients participating in our study, and between this work and my own personally loss of my mother at 19, I decided I wanted to be a therapist. Over the next 6 years I completed my graduate degree, post grad supervision and got licensed. I was working in private practice and at an inpatient mental health facility. I loved my job, but it was very heavy and I needed something light and for me. I started dabbling in plants in 2015 and my love grew rapidly, as did my collection. Growing up, my mom and dad always had plants around the house, and I always felt comforted by their presence.
I settled into a career as a therapist, played with plants on the side and everything was cruising along until Covid. That first year of covid was exceptionally difficult, and the small amount of burn out I was feeling in my job took over. I was really struggling on a daily basis to show up for my clients and be present. I spent my time daydreaming about the shop I would one day open, what it would look like, what I would have, and what I would do with my days. It was a very romanticized escape from the heaviness and loneliness of my 9-5.
One day June of 2021, my husband and I were having coffee on the deck and I was crying, feeling burnt out and overwhelmed by work and everything we had personally going on. My husband looked at me and just said “you are so unhappy and that is not ok with me”. I broke down, and the decision was made to leave my career and do something completely different. I was going to open that shop I spent 80% of my time fantasizing about.
Over the next month, discussions continued, more tears were shed, I told my clients and coworkers I was exiting the profession. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I had to do it. I reached out to friends who switched careers, people who owned retail spaces and started making connections and networking. I started a “business plan” on an excel document, listing out everything I knew I needed to do and cataloging resources. I spent a ton of time watching youtube videos, listening to podcasts, reading articles and talking to anyone who would spare some of their time and knowledge with me. I was a small business sponge.
First came the decision, then came the general concept. A boutique plant shop that offered not just plants, but a floral bar, classes, community space and carefully sourced and curated retail. I wanted my space to be not just a cool spot, but THE cool spot. I wanted to build a destination plant shopping experience. I made a master list of all my favorite plant shops, plant influencers and plant pages I could think of and studied them. What did they do I liked? What did they not do? What was their general approach and vibe? What is my general approach and vibe? How I build something that can both serve my community and stand out in this space?
Through my conversations and connections I was making I met Anna Dunn, a local entrepreneur and coffee shop owner. Anna loved my concept and in our first encounter, told me about a space she had just purchased with her husband to remodel. I was a historic building on the west side, and was already one of the address I had listed on my excel document to reach out too. It was serendipitous to say the least. Anna and I walked over to the building, it had burnt a year prior and was in shambles. The fire damage was apparent on the exposed brick walls, the ceiling had a 5 foot hole in it on one side, there were birds living in the rafters. It was perfect. We started discussions immediately, and within a month we had a location.
From there, it was branding, naming, concept, social media, design, back end business planning i.e. getting an LLC, registering my business, etc. I was still seeing clients until March of 2022, so in my off time and spare time I was working on the business. Anna and Tyler continued to remodel the space, uncovering the original white hexagon tile floor from the early 1900s, building a bathroom, redoing electrical, HVAC and all plumbing. They took the whole front of the building off and completely rebuilt the entry and windows. It was slowly coming together.
Through all this I was equally excited, relieved and absolutely terrified. We funded the whole project out of pocket from our savings. My husband was carrying us financially while I put all my resources and time towards building the business. I started focusing on social media and building anticipation. I made silly reels and posted 2x per day everyday for months. I might not have been open yet, but there was so much to do and learn, I took all my extra time and devoted it towards that.
Once spring of 2022 rolled around and I officially left my practice, it was time to get serious about inventory, displays and sourcing the pieces that would make up the physical space. I spent 3 months thrifting and finding display pieces including a 1980s high school chemistry table, a 1950’s nail bin from a hardware store and of course, a citrus colored velvet couch to match the orange blossom wall paper I installed. This was the part I was good at, design and putting together something unique and special. I have an eclectic style, and I wanted to bring that into the space with a focus on french floral shop design with a maximalist flair.
I got the keys to the building June 5, and gave myself 5 weeks to pull it all together. I rented a u-haul with my dear friend Matt, and we spent 9 hours picking up and moving furniture into the shop. I was there everyday for 5 weeks, 12-14 hours a day. I ordered and built the whole inventory system, received and broke down hundreds of boxes, installed light fixtures, and covered the windows with paper monstera leaf place mats meant for a luau party instead of brown paper.
Finally, after 16 months of planning and preparing, we opened the doors July 21 to an insane reception. That Saturday morning I had 50 people waiting outside to come in. It was incredible!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I feel like I am still getting my feet on the ground with my business, and generally will tell you I have no idea what I am doing, but I am 100% not afraid to fail and try anything once! We currently offer a really unique shopping experience on the westside in Cookeville, plant styling for commercial and residential, some elopement and wedding floral options, event rental space, and we are exploring new options for 2023 to bring Glass Tangerine to our customers! It’s truly the most fun and aesthetically pleasing space to be and work everyday! I feel like one thing that sets us a part outside of being the only boutique plant shop in town is our heavy focus on education and community. We have a large community table in the back of the shop where we host workshops and classes, and we leave it open otherwise for community members to come use! We have people that work in the shop some days, some come and eat lunch on break, and some people just bring over a coffee with a friend. We also have customized plant care cards for every plant that leave the shop, and we go over them with each customer. It is important to me that we not just sell you a product, but that you leave with a connection to that product or plant, and feel confident in your ability to care for it.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Social media is one of my favorite things to talk about. Honestly- I feel the key is consistency and not being afraid to absolutely make a fool of yourself. When starting social media for GT, I had no building to work out of yet, no inventory and only a business plan. I set up a “recording spot” in my house, gathered up all of my plants, and started filming. Reels, posts, carousels. I taught myself Canva, and used the time I had before my building was ready to start building an online presence and community. So many people are so afraid of social media cause they won’t do it right, and my response to that is YOU WON’T! but you won’t have an audience yet either- so it doesn’t matter! By the time we opened our doors, I had been building our online presence for 6 months. I had gained over 1500 followers, and I had it kind of figured out. I knew how to make reels and learned as much as I could about the algorithm. I was able to open my doors with a solid foundation online and my “failures” were so buried by that point they don’t matter. And honestly, its really fun to scroll back and see where I started from- changing outfits in my hallway between videos and potting plants on the floor for content.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Content, Client Experience, Boldness.
Being in the plant business already gives me a bit of a leg up, because it’s highly aesthetic and very popular right now. It’s easy to post stunning photos on social media because what I sell is naturally beautiful. But our reputation doesn’t rest on social media, it rests on the experience our clients and customers have when they walk in. I made some bold choices both in design and business decisions. One example is we do not have a shop phone… I know! The decision was made for two main reasons- 1: I do not want to hear a phone ring all day at work and 2: I do not want my customers to hear a phone ring or have a broken conversation with one of our staff trying to get to a ringing phone. I am positive I have lost sales because of this, and I am 100% ok with that. Coming into Glass Tangerine is as much of an experience as it is a store. The environment is very calming, we always play relaxing music, we have pure essential oil candles burning, we have a faux fireplace. It is meant to elicit a relaxing response for our customers, a place they can come and take a deep breath. If you come in, you know you will be able to have the full attention of our staff to help you navigate the plants or answer your questions. I believe we are all way to connected these days, and the expectation people are immediately available all the time is one I am trying to break for myself. So, if you need to reach me, shoot me a message on instagram, facebook or email and I promise, I will get back to you!
I am also naturally a host. I love having people over and focus intensely on the small details of hospitality and experience. We have custom plant care cards for every purchase, and we take suggestions at checkout. If you are looking for a specific plant or product, you can leave us a note in our request book and we will call you as soon as we can get it in. We put cat stickers on all our pet safe plants for ease of shopping for our pet lovers. We offer a plant doctor experience where you can bring us your sick plants and we will diagnose, treat and rehabilitate them. We are currently rehabbing a fiddle leaf fig and a ficus microcarpa! I believe Glass Tangerine can be a resource as much as a shop. We love talking plants and will always go above and beyond to make sure our customers are taken care of!
We also put a lot of funds and resources towards building the space and designing it. I did all the design and styling, with the help from two of my very dear friends Melissa and Matt. We put an orange tree in a clawfoot bathtub, we wallpapered the bathroom, i built and installed 20 ft of floral towers on the front of the building, I put in a faux fireplace, I repurposed a high school chemistry table for our floral bar. Every part of the store was intentionally designed and chosen to fit the space. My goals was to go big from the start- I chose intentionally not to scale the business and to put everything I had on the table to start. This was a very risky move that has absolutely paid off in building our reputation and clientele.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Abby Weeden