Tiny Greenhouse is Making A Big Impact

BRICK TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Calling all plant lovers – a new Tiny Greenhouse has opened in Brick on Princeton Ave. The shop, owned by Gabby Pagano, not only sells plants, but also hosts a small market on Saturdays, as well as various classes within the shop. From succulents to meditation, this shop offers it all.

Initially open just on the weekends, Pagano said she sold out quickly and was encouraged by her customers to open more days. She added Thursday and Fridays, but still feels she needs to add additional days – with a plan to open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays soon.

For the moment, the greenhouse attached to Tiny Greenhouse is a work in progress, but she does hope to have it open soon.

The plants Pagano sells are all personally curated by her. When she’s not in the shop, Pagano is driving around New Jersey, and sometimes Pennsylvania, searching for the perfect plants to offer her customers.

“I restock during the week,” Pagano said. “I drive to North Jersey and I get a lot of my plants locally. Sometimes I go as far away as Pennsylvania. It’s hard, but I like to shop locally for plants.”

While her customers come from all over the state, she has been getting along great with the shop’s neighbors, with mostly positive feedback from the community about the shop taking over what was previously a dilapidated building.

“I have a girl who lives down the street. She just moved in, and she’s like ‘This is going to be dangerous for me having you so close,’” Pagano said. “She bought a huge potted plant and I’m thinking ‘You’re doing great publicity for me walking down the street with that plant.’”

Along with brightening up any room, she said plants are also have an added health benefits – such as the snake plants that absorb toxins and release oxygen.

“This isn’t just pretty. It’s doing things in your house. It’s important to me to explain all the benefits of plants,” Pagano said. “I try to tell people that gardening is also really good for you. It’s calming, it’s relaxing. Plants also lower anxiety levels.”

Her roots

Growing up, Pagano said her home was always filled with plants, and she has fond memories of gardening with her mother. She felt her house always looked more like a jungle than a house. That love of plants would stay with her.

A few years ago, she said she started making small arrangements for herself, after some trial and error.

“I would go to the store, buy a succulent and put it in the corner. After a couple of weeks, it would be dead,” she said. “I refused to buy another succulent until I figured out why this was happening, so I researched and researched it. And I learned that I was putting them in a dark corner, and they need a lot of sun to grow. That’s where my plant knowledge began to grow.”

Jumping into the world of plants headfirst, she began doing more research, learning all she could. Besides reading on the internet, she would go to nurseries and ask a lot of questions. She wanted to learn more about what she was doing besides just caring for the plants.

Once she had the knowledge down, she started making small arrangements in items she felt she could upcycle – creative reusing of an item – anything that was thrifted or vintage. Once she had some arrangements created, it was off to the market.

Starting at the Allaire summer flea market, Pagano said she sold out of her plants on her very first day. She returned, and promptly sold out again.

“People love them. They can’t get enough of them,” she said. “After that, I said let me add some house plants. And it’s been growing and growing and growing, until we’re here.”

Along with selling the plants, Pagano would also talk to her customers, and when she was asked, would help fellow planet owners figure out if something was wrong with their plants at home.

The plant whisperer

While she was at the markets, Pagano said she answered a lot of questions people had about their plants. She would be approached with symptoms someone’s plant was showing, and she would help them try to figure out what was wrong.

“I wasn’t just selling product at the market, I was answering a lot of questions at the market,” she said. “Someone would come up to me and say ‘I have this houseplant, it’s not looking too great,’ like they do now. And I’d be there with them diagnosing.”

After Allaire, she decided to try her luck at the Asbury Fresh farmers market. While her customer base was different in Asbury, she realized the plants could fit almost any lifestyle.

“A lot of the people at Asbury Fresh lived in apartments. They are looking for something small and adorable,” she said. “They wanted something that would sit on their windowsill or on their coffee table.”

She also started to gain a following, as some of the customers she had in Allaire had followed her out to Asbury to see what else she was selling. Some of those customers who visited her at her first market now come to see her at the store.

Events at the store

Inside the store, customers have told Pagano they wished they could bring a beach chair inside and just relax. She tries to keep a calming atmosphere with soft music.

Not long after she opened, Pagano said she was approached by a friend who asked if she could hold a meditation class in the store. She approved and the class packed the store.

“It was the first one we hosted, and we had a full house,” Pagano said. “She sits in the front, lights some incense and does a guided meditation.”

She hopes to hold the free class twice a month. The next class is tonight and she encourages anyone who wishes to join to bring a yoga mat and pillow.

At the end of the month, she is planning a yoga class. Pagano said she looks to see what events would pair well with the environment she has set up.

She also hosts a terrarium building class, called “plant night,” where about 12 people who preregister can come in and spend about two hours creating their own arrangement. Pagano said the classes are BYOB and customers can also bring snacks.

“These ladies made such a mess in here because they had so much fun the last time we had a class,” she said. “They ask me as they are leaving when the next class is because they want to come back.”

Anyone who is interested in upcoming events or would like more information can contact Tiny Greenhouse at 732-812-0554, visit them at Tiny Greenhouse or visit their Facebook page. The shop is open Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.