VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – For Hannah Murphy, you can’t have too many.
“I’m in about a 300 square-foot right now temporarily and I have about 30 plants,” said the Norfolk resident.
Business has been growing at HortiCulture Design Co. since the Virginia Beach shop located at 993 Laskin Road, opened its doors two weeks ago.
“Plants and flowers are making people happy,” said HortiCulture Design Co. Owner Becky Devlin. “Everybody’s at their house, spending a lot of time at their houses and wanting pretty things at their house, so it’s been amazing.”
The Laskin Road location is the second store for Devlin. She also owns the HortiCulture Design Co. on W. 22nd Street in Norfolk. That shop opened in June. Both locations started up in the middle of a pandemic.
“Trying to get a person on the phone and get all your permits and inspections, it was a huge challenge,” Devlin said.
There is an upside to opening a plant store amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Many people, like Murphy are filling their homes with plants to create a therapeutic, indoor sanctuary in an uncertain and stressful time.
“Especially in a pandemic when everybody has been kind of stuck, even that kind of small thing to wake up and feel like you have to take care of something and it sometimes helps you get out of bed in the morning when you’re having a tough day,” Murphy said. “It makes you feel kind of fresh and makes your home feel a little more alive.”
The demand for houseplants was so high at one point, Devlin said her growers were experiencing shortages in their supply.
“People are so into plants right now and everybody wants the most unique, rare variety,” she said. “There’s certain types of plants that when we order them from the growers, it’s a one box minimum because it’s such a popular plant. The growers just had no idea what a boom there would be in the pandemic in plants and they just didn’t plan for it.”
During the winter, there’s nothing like bringing some of the outdoors inside your home and connecting with nature.
HortiCulture Design Co. is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 pm, and on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
