Downtown Victoria has a new plant shop which was opened by a husband and wife duo of horticulturalists in late October.
Located at 613 Johnson Street, the Little Plant Shop is the brainchild of Edmonton expats, Eric Gibson and Sara Gies.
However, this business did not just sprout up overnight—behind the Little Plant Shop is a big story of love, plants and finding themselves.
Their story
The partners in life and business say they met in high school, both went into the horticulture program at Olds College in Alberta before they got married and went into business together.
“We both worked in every sort of horticulture job you can think about,” Gibson told Victoria Buzz.
“I was a grower at the Muttart Conservatory and Sara was running the [University of Alberta] greenhouses, like all the cool research greenhouses on the buildings roofs that people don’t even know about.”
Through this time the couple realized that people are getting really into plant culture, succulents and interesting, rare houseplants.
“We kind of jumped on the makers movement,” he explained.
It began with a handful of makers markets in Edmonton before they found a retail space on the busy, retail centric Whyte Avenue before the pandemic hit.
“We were really busy during the pandemic, which was good, plants became very popular.”
“Then our lease came up and we decided we needed a change, we were getting kind of burnt out, needed something new and different so we got a bowler trailer and did some mobile markets.”
Following the pandemic, Gibson and Gies took a year off to figure out their next steps. Eventually they decided Victoria would be the best option for them.
Now, they live out near Sooke, so they can enjoy the benefit of the Pacific Northwest climate and wilderness as well as having access to the urban market Victoria and its surrounding municipalities have to offer.
Setting roots in Victoria
They opened up shop on Johnson Street on October 26th and ever since they have loved meeting and talking to all the plant lovers that frequent the area.
The space is small, but well utilized and cozy with loads of plants, pottery, trinkets and all the plant-themed accessories a plant mom or dad could need.
In all of downtown Victoria there is only one other plant store so they chose a good neighbourhood to open up shop in. For context there are over a dozen furniture stores within the downtown core alone.
According to the Little Plant Shop owners, they have tried to set themselves apart from the other shops by carrying interesting rarities.
“We have a different style we find, a unique style and I find our experience kind of sets us apart too,” Gibson told Victoria Buzz. “We have so much background in horticulture, which definitely helps.”
“We try to specialize in rare stuff, carnivorous plants you don’t see everywhere, but we also carry the hardy stuff that just do well everywhere.”
Now, Gibson says their focus is on connecting more with the local community and the makers of Victoria.
“It’s a good vibe here we’re feeling. Everyone’s into plants, same as Edmonton but we’re still figuring out our niche.”
“We have a little bit of local pottery, some of that geometric stained glass you can only get on the island.”
Gibson says that they hope to be able to carry more locally made wares as people discover them.
When it comes to the plants themselves the Little Plant Shop says they try to propagate and grow as much as they can by themselves but otherwise order in from nearby, so as to not leave a huge ecological footprint.
“The big trend right now is ordering everything in from overseas and you never know if they are faking the phytosanitary certificate or if it’s stolen from the jungle, so we try to go more local, Canadian grown,” Gibson explained.
“We make sure our suppliers have the right certificates and stuff.”
Aside from running their shop Gibson and Gies offer in-home plant design and care services, but until they feel more established at the shop, their focus has to be on establishing themselves as the reputable horticulturists they are.
Every weekend the duo are seeing more new faces coming through their shop and they say they are excited to connect with their newfound community of plant lovers in the new year.
