Repost: Interview with Voyage Baltimore
Today we’d like to introduce you to BUDS Plant Boutique.
Jessica and Lindsay have always had a love for all things creative in both their personal and professional lives. Their entrepreneurial drive, long history of friendship, and passion for plants were the basis for how BUDS was formed. The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic allowed many people to dive deeper into new and revisited hobbies. This was when Lindsay and Jessica focused their extra time on the educational aspect and knowledge of plant care when they realized there was a need for a local plant shop in their community.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect? We have been overwhelmed with the huge support we have received from the community and our friends and family since we’ve started BUDS. All of the positivity has helped us navigate through several challenges, which most new businesses eventually face. We’ve learned a lot through trial and error as we have found wholesale vendors to work with, and learning our backend flow. Setting BUDS apart from competitors, our marketing and social media campaigns, and getting our name out to the rest of the community has also been something we have been working hard on since the beginning. Building our shop in New Market also presented a number of challenges and many decisions to be made, especially because we did want to carry any debt and had to work long hours for many months at local events all summer to be able to fund the shop. We are also always making sure we continue to evolve with current trends and customer needs.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others? BUDS Plant Boutique offers pre-potted, high-quality houseplants, succulents, air plants, cacti, and succulent arrangements. We are known for being a local small business that will work with customers to find the perfect plant that fits their needs. BUDS has provided many gift options since we pot our plants in specialized soil and a unique pot, taking all of the work out of the planting process for our customers. We also pride ourselves on providing as much care information to our customers so that they are able to enjoy our living creations for a long time.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you? For us, one of the few positives that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic was the extra time that we had to re-visit our love of plants and make our dream of opening a local plant boutique an actual plan. We are not sure if it was “luck,” but we are thankful that something positive came from an otherwise negative situation.