In our almost 11 years of small business'ing here in the Los Angeles area, we've learned that one of the most important things a business can be is A•D•A•P•T•A•B•L•E.
The pandemic brought a myriad of challenges; when we closed the shop, team members stepped up, temporarily taking in the shops's many houseplants and giving them the best care possible until we could open up again. We also worked to get more of our products online and leaned into our back door, contactless pickup. It was a wild time.
But because of our strong team and the support of our customers, what started as a harrowing period, turned into a superbloom. With everyone stuck at home in their feels, flowers and house plants became to the go-to pick-me-up of the time. We never could have predicted the sudden explosion of business that came our way, and were truly touched by the patronage that helped us not just survive, but thrive and grow through the historic event.
This year brings new challenges. With the fires, the uncertainty of the economy, and what for now we'll call a *vibe shift* in the nation, we've had to once again adapt, which is why last week we closed the doors of our second shop at the Original Farmers' Market and consolidated back into our main shop in Studio City.
While our beautiful instagram posts, or our silly TikToks do authentically show how dreamy it is to be a part of this business, it's a little harder to give visibility to the hard parts of running the shop and the difficult decisions that need to be made.
We loved that the second location opened up the WildFlora world to more Angelenos and to the many travelers visiting Los Angeles. However, it took a lot of resources to run it - not just in overhead costs, but also in time, attention, and energy. And while we could have kept going as two shops, in the end, it was more beneficial to adapt once again and concentrate our resources back into one location, giving us the ability to better support the team, and whatever new ideas or explorations may come into our future.
Saying au revoir to our little Farmer's Market shop was bitter sweet. While clearing it out, and removing the beautiful window displays, we were touched by how many people stopped to tell us they would miss our botanical presence. We are so grateful to those who got to experience the magic of that shop with us, and hope you will still trust us with your LA-area floral deliveries, and *maybe* even take a little drive one day over to our Studio City shop (which is pictured below, just in case you need a little eye candy incentive :)
