We recently connected with Fransheska Alvarez and have shared our conversation below.
Fransheska, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
If you had told me 3 years ago that I’d be the proud owner of a small business, I would have probably laughed. Yet, fast forward to present day and our brick and mortar just celebrated its first year. Tierra Botanics started in the midst of a pandemic, as an online business under the name “Happy Mail Botanics”. We began by offering mystery cutting boxes of our personal indoor plants. Which in the plant world, is a common way to grow your tropical collection without breaking the bank. We got our start on social media. Selling on several different Facebook plant enthusiast groups. Our business quickly gained a following. And, As our little shop grew, we began offering full sized plants, tools of the trade, and rare/uncommon collector plants,we were sourcing from Florida growers. Soon after we built our first e-commerce site. At this point we were shipping all over the U.S. and delivering locally. The number of local sales and deliveries kept growing and we realized there was no indoor plant shops in souther Vermont. That’s when we decided to invest all of our shops income for a physical location. We set out to find a location in Brattleboro,VT. After viewing a few local commercial spaces. We found our current brick and mortar space. Previously a local dive bar. Despite it needing tons of work. I knew we found our spot and we quickly got to work. Our little family spent the better part of a month remodeling the entire space. Everything needed updating. From Painting, flooring, replacing ceiling tiles, to ripping out existing built ins. We changed the name to Tierra Botanics and logo and opened our doors just before the holidays. We wanted our space to be more than just your average plant shop. That’s when the idea of offering a fully stocked terrarium bar and hosting monthly workshops for plant enthusiasts of all ages came to be. It wasn’t long before word spread and families, boys scouts, schools, assisted living homes, even other businesses began scheduling private terrarium building parties and macrame workshops.
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?
Having been born and raised in the tropics, naturally, I feel a deeply rooted connection with all things nature and all things green. When coming up with our business plan, it was important to create a space where everyone not only feels welcome but excited to learn something new. As a plant boutique, We offer a wide selection of uncommon tropical foliage; Anything from low light, low maintenance, pet friendly, to expert level collector plants. All of which come with a detailed care guide to help them thrive under your care. But how do you get folks to excited about greenery? That’s where our monthly workshops come to play. Folks can have fun creating their own beautiful living piece of art while learning the basics of terrarium building and care.. OR learn a new craft at one of our macrame, air dry planter building, or sup and plant workshops. We also offer FREE monthly plant swaps where plant enthusiasts of all stripes are welcome to trade full plants and/or cuttings with other local plant lovers. And if you’re looking for a last minute fun activity, our fully stocked terrarium bar is always open!!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
When starting our business I knew I didn’t want to take out any loans. I was a stay at home mom at the time and started out selling cutting boxes from my personal plants. All profit was invested back into the business. Purchasing wholesale plants, products, supplies, etc. therefore, As our sales increased or business grew.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
From stay at home crazy plant mom to plant stylist and small business owner. I began selling pieces of plant cuttings online. Shortly after saving enough money to purchase wholesale and start curating a wide selection of plants for our first e-commerce site. We shipped all over the U.S. and delivered locally. Within 6 months, we had saved enough to open our first brick and mortar “Tierra Botanics”. Which just celebrated its 1 year anniversary.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tierrabotanics.com
- Instagram: @tierrabotanics
- Facebook: @tierrabotanics
- Yelp: Tierra Botanics