TAKE PALM AND PINE TO THE NEXT LEVEL
>> HELP TAKE PALM + PINE TO THE NEXT LEVEL ! <<
WHO WE ARE
palm + pine is a plant shop, creative space, and art-driven community hub located in west asheville, north carolina. we are space-makers, vibe setters, plant hustlers, and champions of joy ! founded by meghan mciver and lindsay riley, palm + pine opened its doors on january 31st, 2020. we closed our storefront 6 weeks later, in response to the covid19 pandemic.
despite the challenges we faced by opening and operating a brand new business through a pandemic, we’ve seen extraordinary growth and success in our first year. since the start of 2021, our business has been rapidly scaling itself — with that growth has come a lot of exciting opportunities and simultaneously, some really big challenges. scaling a business with zero reserve capital and no financial “cushion” has proven to be incredibly difficult.
WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW
we have been able to successfully sustain ourselves and the day to day operations of our storefront through the continued support from our customers and loyal community in asheville. our creativity and adaptability have enabled us to build our business from the ground up, without the traditional capital or financial backing typically required when starting a business.
we have created and developed multiple successful streams of revenue outside of daily retail sales from our storefront : our commercial and residential installation and maintenance services, a monthly “plant club” subscription box, plant care classes and workshops, and e-commerce/shipping. the demand for each of these sectors of our business has been quickly increasing over the past 6 months... its vital that we continue to grow these avenues of revenue to progress our business, but we have reached a standstill due to logistical and financial hinderances.
we are at a critical growth point and we need help getting to the next level.
WHAT WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE
we have three main goals with this campaign:
purchase a work vehicle
we have been using our personal vehicles for transporting plants, making deliveries, and completing installation projects - our cars are small and often require us to make multiple trips to complete a singular task. using our personal vehicles has hindered us from offering particular plants/products to our customers simply because we are not able to transport them. having a designated work van or truck would offer us greater load capacity and enable us to travel less frequently to far away greenhouses when sourcing plants. it would increase efficiency, expand our plant offerings, allow us to participate in more events, and decrease unnecessary labor output. with a larger vehicle, we would be able to expand our installation and maintenance services and grow our subscription box delivery service.
build out the back office of our storefront to be fully functional and operational
currently our 250 sq ft back office serves 5 main purposes: creative studio, administrative office, shipping center, planting/potting station, and inventory storage. we have not yet had the capital to make this area functional and efficient. the space is uniquely shaped which presents challenges and ultimately necessitates custom-made furniture to make it functional. building it out would require:
1. a custom-built potting station complete with storage for planters, tools, soil, and amendments
2. a custom-built table designated to shipping/e-commerce. this would include slotted storage underneath for boxes and shipping materials.
3. appropriate shelving for inventory storage
delegate labor
we currently employ 1 person, 1 day a week as a retail associate at a living wage rate of $18/hr. our goal is to employ a retail associate to cover the front end of the shop 3-4 days per week. we are fundraising for 3 months of payroll for a part-time (25-30 hrs/week) retail associate at $18/hr - offsetting this labor output would allow us to focus on growing other avenues of revenue via installation and maintenance services, classes, and e-commerce. three months of developing these streams of revenue will provide us with the sustained capital needed to continue to employ a retail associate full time.
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we opened the doors to our storefront with barely $200 left in the bank… everything that you’ve witnessed us create in the past year and a half has been a result of extremely hard work, really careful choices, and the abundant support from our loyal community. we have built this business from sheer determination, drive, and a seemingly boundless capacity to hustle. what we’ve been able to create and achieve so far has given us so much hope, inspiration, and motivation to continue to grow our dream.
we are so, so thankful to our community in asheville and beyond for continually rallying around us. every time you purchase from us, send folks our way, share kind words about our shop — it all means so much. we have been blown away by the support we have received over the past 17 months and are so stoked to see where this dream takes us. palm + pine has been the ultimate lesson in trusting ourselves, our vision, our creative skills, and our business proficiency — we have done SO much with such little money, a feat we once thought impossible. this fundraiser would give us the financial backing we need to continue to grow our business in asheville and beyond.
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FIND US ONLINE
IG: @palmandpineavl
