We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vanessa Luckie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vanessa below.

Vanessa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Austin Orchid Exchange was inspired years ago in 2011 when a friend called me after a dinner party she had at her home. She staged her house with beautiful blooming orchids fo her party. When the blooms faded, she was going to throw the plants away, but instead called me and asked if I would take them. When she brought them to my house, she told me if I rebloomed them, she would buy them back from me. So, it was then that I got inspired, and thought of the idea, and name for an orchid shop that rebloomed orchids. The thought of people throwing away perfectly beautiful orchid plants pained me. However, I also understood the time, commitment, know how, and all the space it took to own a bunch of orchids, and to continuously try and rebloom them in a home. I took that rebloom idea and thought about an exchange program, and then Austin Orchid Exchange was born in 2019.

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.

My passion for orchids started when I was just in college. I saw one in my dad’s home and was immediately drawn to how beautiful and delicate it was. I bought one for my apartment immediately when I returned to college, and it sat for years as I moved from apartment to apartment in college, and it never rebloomed. Then, one day as if by miracle, a bloom spike appeared. Twenty plus years later, and each reblooming plant still intrigues and excites me like the first plant I saw as a teenager. I’m still giddy every time one of our plants goes into bloom. I’ve rebloomed many and sadly lost many orchids, all species and types over the years. However, in doing this, I’ve gained so much knowledge and really gotten to know and understand orchids. I have plants that are 15+ years old. I think the thing that surprises people the most, is how long orchid plants actually live, and how long they can bloom and rebloom. I also feel like the biggest misconception people have is when the orchid blooms fade, then the plant has died as well. Some orchid plants can take years to bloom when grown from seeds. So, the idea that they often get thrown away after a bloom cycle is just painful to hear. When in fact they are in their prime to bloom again and again.

One of the main comments I get from my clients is how long the blooms last. What sets us aside from others in this industry is I get the orchids when they are still in bud stage. Meaning no blooms are open. They come into the greenhouse and we let the last few weeks of blooming happen in the greenhouse. So they are acclimated and happy. It’s only then that we moved them into arrangements. So, because they are not in transit and in bloom they flowers tend to be more robust. They are also cared for with lots of love and attention. Almost 95% of our arrangements are living arrangements, we do not really do much with cut flowers. Each arrangements is handmade at the time of order, we do not have anything premade, so this also ensures a longer lasting arrangement.

I take a lot of pride and passion in my customer service as well. I always say we are a customer service business that happens to sell flowers. I never want someone unhappy with an arrangement, or have something in their home that they don’t truly LOVE, so I am always willing to take things back, or recreate to the customer liking, or sometimes customer just like us to have free creative reign, and we enjoy both processes.

Lastly, the other element that sets us apart and what we are most proud of, is our use of rebloom inventory. As we tote in our tag line “Raised to Rebloom” we walk the walk. We reuse plants as much as we can and strive to have zero plant waste. Our rebloom inventory is probably our most robust blooms, as they have been in our care the entire time, and the blooms tend to be enormous and last the longest of all the plants. We also do our best to reuse all elements of orchid arrangements that we exchange. Our exchange program allows clients to exchange their faded bloom orchids for new orchids at a discount.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I always thought, I would go to college, get some type of business degree and then work at some big corporation….and I did just that. I got my bachelors in Economics from the University of Texas, and my 2nd job out of college with at Whole Foods Market in their corporate Accounting division. I love numbers, and loved working in Finance/Treasure. I did that for almost 12 years. All that time I always had all my orchids and plants in my house, and always this business idea in my mind. I took a pause when I spent a couple of years at home with my young children. I wanted to dip my foot back in the workforce after a few years, and I went back for a contract job at Whole Foods Market, and something didn’t feel right. I knew then it was time to make that pivot and start my own orchid business.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I would say having a high quality product, and the highest standard for customer service. That’s what brings customers back, and what gets them talking about your business. We strive to make closer personal connections with all of our clients. So much of my business has been word of mouth.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.austinorchidexchange.com
• Instagram: @austinorchidexchange