Hidden Gems: Meet Brittany Rose

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Rose.

Hi Brittany, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I was a stay-at-home mom for 7 years, during this time, I started experimenting with plants.

I quickly realized perennials and annuals were not my specialty and decided to try indoor plants. I was drawn to terrariums and the beautiful coloring in succulents, them being low maintenance was just an added bonus. I started with succulents/cacti and air plants and my artistic side was able to shine by making terrariums and different types of arrangements.

I eventually decided to try tropicals, as I was wanting to be more involved in the caring and grooming of plants. I found that the joy plants brought me was good for my mental health and I was actually decent at caring for them. During the COVID-19 shutdown, my husband and I decided to take a huge step and start a business. We began at local farmer’s markets just to get our name out and see if there would be a market for us to start a shop.

Three months into our journey, riding through downtown Mebane we saw a storefront available for lease. That same space used to be a VHS duplication store where my husband worked in high school, then later a tattoo parlor where he got his first tattoo.

We took that as a sign from the universe and decided to just go for it and opened our brick-and-mortar store. We had not saved up for this journey, just went with our gut instinct and invested everything we had into this.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Because of the popularity of plants during the Covid lockdowns, many local growers that used to sell wholesale were forced to stop so they could keep up with demand. We wanted to support other small businesses and growers as much as possible so we eventually found a supplier but they are a 2-hour drive away from us.

With our store being open 6 days a week, that meant our only day off was spent driving to pick up new plants each week. We’ve since found other suppliers but still visit them from time to time. Competing with big box stores is especially difficult given the current inflation rate everyone is struggling with.

With plants, the big box stores contracted the plants they’re currently selling years ago so they aren’t impacted as much as smaller retailers like ourselves who can’t pay for their plants years in advance. That creates another challenge for a new business because people don’t want to see price increases from a new business they’ve just discovered.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We describe our store as a plant boutique with a DIY terrarium building station available. One of the definitions of Metanoia is a fundamental change of mind.

We’ve found that plants can have a tremendous impact on mental health and are one of the easiest ways to add style to any space in your home or office. We take the time to create individual labels for almost every plant we carry that not only includes care instructions but plainly say if it is safe for pets or not.

We also devote a section of our shop to pet-friendly plants so it’s easy for pet parents to find plants that will be safe to keep around their pets as well.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
The name of my store can be tricky to pronounce and don’t feel bad if you find it tricky because I realized that I had been pronouncing it wrong 2 or 3 months after we opened. We tell everyone it doesn’t matter how you say it, just come see us!

Contact Info:

• Email: office@metanoiahome.com
• Website: www.metanoiahome.com
• Instagram: @plantswithmetanoia
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlantswithMetanoia