{"id":206706,"date":"2026-04-23T00:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/206706\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T00:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:26:23","slug":"how-a-brooklyn-plant-shop-deals-with-rising-costs-pandemic-shifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/206706\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Brooklyn plant shop deals with rising costs, pandemic shifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pandemic drove a surge in demand across many parts of the economy from furniture<\/a> and tech<\/a> to houseplants<\/a>. With more time at home, people turned to their living spaces \u2014 and to plants. Americans spent about $3.4 billion on indoor plants and related products<\/a> in 2023 alone.<\/p>\n

Now, as demand has cooled, plant shops are facing a new set of challenges. Higher costs, including tariffs<\/a> and rent<\/a>, are reshaping the economics of running a small business.<\/p>\n

For this edition of our \u201cEconomic Pulse\u201d series<\/a> \u2014 where we explore views on the economy from a range of perspectives \u2014 we\u2019re looking at what it takes to run a small plant shop in today\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Marketplace\u2019s Sabri Ben-Achour spoke with Christan Summers and Ivan Martinez, the wife and husband co-owners of Tula House<\/a>, a plant shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.<\/p>\n

Sabri Ben-Achour: So are people buying as many plants as they used to?<\/p>\n

Christan Summers: So, it’s kind of tricky, right? Because there was also a lot more competition. Yes, people were buying a tremendous amount of plants during the pandemic \u2014 I’m sure a furniture company would say the same thing<\/a> \u2014 but there were many plant shops that also opened and expanded during this time. I would say many plant shops have since closed. There’s not as many people buying, but there’s also not as much competition, so we’re catching it.<\/p>\n

On the pandemic shift <\/p>\n

Ben-Achour: Well, I’m glad to hear that as a proud plant dad, I’m very thrilled to hear that people are still into plants. But have you had to adapt your business model at all? <\/p>\n

Ivan Martinez: Yeah, during the pandemic, a lot of people became collectors, and I think since then, that has kind of gone away a little bit, and the rarity market of the plants kind of dwindled. And now people are back to finding plants that they love and plants that are right for their apartments. <\/p>\n

Yeah, we were in the space back then where we just wanted to find the rarest cacti and alocasia and things like that, but now we’re in the market of, like, what’s the right plant for people? Low-light, high-light, you know? We still dabble in the rarity, but it’s more about just now people wanting the right plant for their apartment and not collecting, like, hundreds and hundreds of them, you know. <\/p>\n

Summers: Right. And then furthermore, yes, we have changed our business model, and we’ve evolved it a lot. We do a lot more installations and maintenance outside of retail. So we have a whole service arm of our business, and we’ve really pushed that since the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Ben-Achour: I mean, design and installation \u2014 that sounds like a whole different, whole new business.<\/p>\n

Summers: Yes, yes, it sure is. <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Plants, plants, and more plants at Tula House.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Ivan Martinez<\/p>\n

Ben-Achour: Where are you seeing the demand for that come from? Is it like business, or is it like people with homes?<\/p>\n

Summers: It’s both. And I would say that we’re seeing a lot of the economic fluctuations in this part of our business, particularly. I would say that last year, there was a lot more hesitancy in the commercial industry, whereas there was a big influx in the residential inquiries. <\/p>\n

This year, at least from what we’ve seen since spring has sprung, a lot of residential inquiries and the commercial inquiries are starting to trickle in a little bit faster than last year. So we’re going to wait and see what happens, especially where we are with the economy<\/a>; you never really know. <\/p>\n

Ben-Achour: Yeah, yeah. Out of curiosity, what does design and installation mean? Does that mean like someone wants a rainforest installed in their living room or \u2014 yeah, what does that mean? <\/p>\n

Summers: I would love that. Listen: Anybody who wants a rainforest, please call us.<\/p>\n

So it can mean anywhere from a green wall in an office or residence to bringing plants in pots to a new office, just to bring some green to corners and columns. It can mean backyards \u2014 we do a lot of terraces and backyards, especially in the city, for our residential clients. And then in offices, it really depends on their budget and how much they want to go if they want to do custom planters and hanging fixtures and green walls, or if they really just want to have plants in pots throughout the office.<\/p>\n

Freight costs, tariffs, and more <\/p>\n

Ben-Achour: Small businesses have been dealing with a lot over the past year, whether it’s tariffs<\/a> or, most recently, high fuel costs<\/a>. Does that kind of stuff apply in plant world?<\/p>\n

Summers: It does.<\/p>\n

Martinez: Yeah, where we are up in New York. We have some local vendors, but for the majority of the plants, they come from Florida. So definitely fuel prices affect those costs. <\/p>\n

We also sell pottery, and tools, and just household equipment, and a lot of that comes from overseas, too \u2014 from the UK or Japan, where we carry a lot of Japanese products. So that we saw a big hit on those products during, you know, even the holidays. And we’ve had to raise our prices over the holidays because of all the tariffs. <\/p>\n

You know, it’s not just the plants, it’s everything that comes along with the plants. So the pottery, and the tools, and the soil \u2014 all that gets affected by the economy as well.<\/p>\n

An economic evolution\"A<\/p>\n

Christan Summers soaks in the sun outside the Tula House storefront.<\/p>\n

Courtesy Ivan Martinez<\/p>\n

Ben-Achour: Rent in New York has been the nemesis of many a business<\/a>, and your neighborhood, Greenpoint, has seen a lot of growth in recent years<\/a>. I mean, is it hard to run a plant store while paying New York rent? <\/p>\n

Summers: Uh, yeah, hence the evolution of our business model. You know, especially when the pandemic hit \u2014 we’re husband and wife. We have two small kids. It hit us pretty hard that we needed not to have all of our eggs in one basket. <\/p>\n

So building the service business alongside the retail business was even more important. And even so now, as you know, we go into renegotiating our master lease next year, and we don’t know what’s going to happen.<\/p>\n

So it’s hard, but it’s also wonderful. So I don’t want it to all be tough, because we’re also in New York City, and there’s always another space, and there’s always another opportunity. But, I mean, we love our space, so we don’t want to have to go anywhere, you know, have it doubled on us. <\/p>\n

But we don’t know. Especially in Greenpoint, as you mentioned, you know this neighborhood \u2014 we’ve seen a lot recently of small businesses getting pushed ou<\/a>t.<\/p>\n

For the plant parents <\/p>\n

Ben-Achour: Before we go for all the plant parents listening, what is your top piece of advice to take care of indoor plants?<\/p>\n

Martinez: You say one, and I’ll say one.<\/p>\n

Summers: OK. I always invite people to think \u2014 I always, like, congratulate them that they have now graduated to be Mother Nature, [laughs] right? So like, congratulations \u2014 you are now Mother Nature, and so bring it home. And if you don’t know what I mean, then step outside and feel the wind and feel the rain, and you’ll get it.<\/p>\n

Martinez: Christan\u2019s always more eloquent than I am. I would say that in New York, plants give you a moment to, like, stop for a second and look at your environment, because we all just get in whatever the cheapest apartment that we could find, and then you want to plant, but then you don’t think about, \u201cOh, where’s the light coming from?\u201d And \u201cDo I live in a basement apartment?\u201d And like, maybe it is really dry in this apartment. So plants give you a second to see what your environment is and find the real plant that works for you in your space.<\/p>\n

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