Community Highlights: Meet Erin Rappleye of Plant Shop

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Rappleye

Hi Erin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Plant Shop started a little over six years ago as a small pop-up shop at Outside Coffee in Grand Rapids. I was burned out working retail and had mentioned the idea to my friends, the owners of Outside Coffee, before they opened. When they were opening the cafe, they wanted to sell plants and it motivated me to get started. People were so excited about it that I decided to do more events and pop-ups around town at other local businesses I had connections with.

After the first summer of doing events, I found the building where Plant Shop currently resides. It was my dream space and I knew it was perfect for Plant Shop. I decided that if I could get the lease I would quit my job and see what happens.

In May we celebrated our 5th birthday at 1056 Wealthy Street! The shop has grown so much since we opened and it has been such a wonderful experience. We currently offer a wide assortment of indoor houseplants, planters, plant maintenance items, repotting and consulting services and design services for residential and commercial spaces.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been such an incredible journey having Plant Shop for the past six years but owning your own business is not an easy feat! As prepared as I felt to take the step to starting my own business, I quickly learned all of the things I didn’t know. It was overwhelming at times but it’s nice to look back and see how much I have grown in partnership with Plant Shop. I think as time goes on you accept that is the nature of owning a business and learn to expect that. I now operate out of the mindset that I don’t know everything but can learn anything.

I think the biggest and scariest challenge that all business owners face are dips in revenue. I knew from my long work history in retail that sales ebb and flow throughout the year but it’s a much different experience when it directly affects your personal income. I always say that I’ll try anything once and I think that open mindedness has brought me a lot of clarity on what is successful for my business. I believe that when businesses keep doing the same things year after year their customers get bored and their business suffers.

We’ve been impressed with Plant Shop, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Plant Shop is a boutique indoor plant shop that brings a curated assortment of indoor plants, planters, other goods and a variety of services to Grand Rapids. Unlike greenhouses or nurseries we focus on the full customer experience while maintaining a modern aesthetic. Plant Shop is the destination in Grand Rapids for plants for people of all experience levels. Our goal is to set everyone up for success on their plant journey!

A major benefit to Plant Shop being such an intimate space is that we can service a range of needs for customers including plant consultation, repotting services, event design, residential and commercial design and anything else that people may be interested in. If someone is looking for something outside of this list, just contact us, we’d love to hear more about it!

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I mentioned this a bit earlier but during COVID I really learned the importance of flexibility and pivoting when needed. Plant Shop wasn’t even open a year before the pandemic hit. In some ways this was really scary, in other ways it allowed me to try a bunch of things and see what worked – we weren’t really established enough to not be flexible. We were fortunate enough to find enough things that generated income outside of being open that paid our bills through the pandemic.

The larger takeaway from the pandemic was the importance of investing in your local community. Plant Shop has always prioritized being a good neighbor to locals and contributing to the betterment of the community when possible. I think we reaped the rewards of that when the pandemic hit because people were incredibly supportive of our business during that time. It was so powerful to see how we all could play a positive part in sustaining our communities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://plantshopgr.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/@plantshopgr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plantshopgrandrapids/