We recently connected with Reba Hamilton and have shared our conversation below.

Reba, appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

I do take vacations! It is so important to be able to take a step away from running the business from time to time. Sometimes this looks like a work trip where I add a couple days to just relax.. Before being able to take my first vacation though I made sure to find staff that I could rely on and trust to manage the shop and to call if needed. I didn’t hire a manager for the first two years of business, but found how valuable a management structure was for the well-being of my employees and shop.

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 am Reba, owner of Virgil’s Plant Shop which is home to a wide variety of rare and common tropical and arid houseplants. I moved back to my hometown of Kansas City from New York City in early 2019 with the plan of opening a plant shop. At the time there were no boutique plant shops in KC, and I felt there was an opportunity to establish a successful shop. I had been deep in the world of houseplants for years, and had a dream to open up my own business, so decided to pull the trigger. I had been living outside of Kansas City for ten years, so when I moved back I felt like the best way to get to know the community, and the community get to know my brand was to start as a mobile business. I bought a mini school bus, flew a friend out from San Francisco and got to work outfitting a bus to become a mobile houseplant oasis. Opening day in the bus was July 12th 2019 and I have since moved into a brick and mortar, though I still take the bus out for pop-ups throughout the Spring and Summer.
We offer not only plants, but many of the accessories that go along with them as well as a selection of locally made goods.
We offer delivery all over the Kansas City metro area, a direct help line for any plant questions, installations of all sizes, plant maintenance, repotting services and even in-home visits.

I have made it a mission of mine to create a welcoming space for any and all, no matter where someone is from, what they look like, who they love or whether they know what a houseplant is—Virgil’s Plant Shop is about being present and kind, welcoming any and all plant questions so as to help educate people about plants no matter their level of expertise.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

While there are many plant shop options around the Kansas City metro area that can help people fill their homes with plants, what sets Virgil’s Plant Shop apart is our commitment to kindness and engagement with the folks who walk through our doors. We have a few fun ‘prizes’ for adults and kiddos alike—for the adults we have a ‘Discount Machine’, just like the bubble dispensers in rolling rinks, where once someone spends $100+ they get to spin it for discounts on plants to be used within 30 days. We will take down their number and shoot them a text about a week before it expires if they haven’t been back. Another fun prize we have is when someone spends $50+ they get to take a polaroid picture of themselves and their new plant(s) in our ‘plant throne’ which has been decked out with a plant-filled awning, peacock chair and neon sign of our shop name on the wall behind them. They can then either take it home or leave it on the wall of the shop. We also have multiple direct lines of communication (text, Instagram and email) with our staff being able to give immediate help on troubleshooting with a plant. We also have a request book where people can put their info down regarding a wishlist plant of theirs and we notify them when it arrives in the shop. I make sure that each of my staff tells anyone who comes in that if they ever have questions about plants they have (bought from us or not) they can always reach out and we are here to help free of charge. Many repeat customers started out just asking questions this way, then became our most loyal customers because they knew they could always come to us for help.
We also offer free delivery within 10 miles of our shop, which has led to many repeat customers who have never even been to the shop!
We also send out a newsletter now and then alerting folks when we will be popped up at events with the bus, or when we are hosting events at the shop.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I thought up the idea of getting a large neon sign behind a vintage peacock chair that people could pose for pictures in, surrounded by plants because it is very ‘instagrammable’, and added a prize of taking home a polaroid picture of oneself in the chair was not only cute, but also became something that people would share on Instagram and tag us. It has become a collectable item for many people, bringing in different friends or family members to take photos with. Another great way to increase a following is to do giveaways with other small businesses that have a similar market base as well as promoting posts to targeted audiences.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.virgilsplantshop.com
• Instagram: @virgilsplantshop
• Facebook: Virgil’s Plant Shop
• Yelp: Virgil’s Plant Shop
• Other: info@virgilsplantshop.com