After building a successful destination for houseplants and curated gifts, Andrew Leahan is expanding his business into plant design, installation, and maintenance services that help businesses seamlessly integrate greenery into their environments. By offering a full-service approach that combines expert consultation, thoughtful design, ongoing maintenance, and customer education, Andrew is making plant care more accessible while helping commercial spaces become more welcoming, vibrant, and connected to the well-being benefits that thoughtfully designed living environments can provide.
Andrew, your business has become a well-known destination for houseplants and gifts, but you’re now expanding into plant design, installation, and maintenance services. What inspired this evolution, and what opportunity did you see in the market?
As our shop has grown, we’ve noticed the same conversation happening over and over. We hear people state that they love plants and want them in their homes, offices, and businesses, but they either don’t know where to start or worry they won’t be able to keep them alive. We realized there was an opportunity to take what we already love and make it more accessible on a larger scale.
We also saw a gap locally for approachable plant services. There are businesses that want the benefits plants bring to a space but don’t necessarily have the time or expertise to make it happen. Creating a living environment in a workspace or business provides warmth, comfort, and an overall improved atmosphere. Those are benefits we want to make more accessible and available to other businesses in our community. Expanding into the territory of plant installation and maintenance felt like a natural extension of what we already do every day in the shop, and that is helping people feel confident with plants.
Many businesses love the idea of incorporating plants into their spaces but worry about the time and expertise required to keep them healthy. How does your new service help remove those barriers and make professional plant care more accessible?
That concern is exactly why we built this service the way we did. A lot of business owners already have enough on their plate. They shouldn’t have to become plant experts too.
We remove those barriers by handling everything from plant selection and placement to installation, care education, and ongoing maintenance. We look at lighting, traffic flow, style, and maintenance needs before recommending anything because success starts with putting the right plant in the right space. Of course, if a business already has some existing greenery they need assistance with or help with maintaining regularly, we’re happy to support them also!
Our goal is to make plants feel easy and achievable. Whether someone wants a few statement plants or ongoing care for an entire office, we want them to feel like they have a partner in us. It shouldn’t be another task added to their to-do list.
Your process goes beyond simply selling plants—it includes consultation, design, installation, training, and ongoing maintenance. Why was it important to create a full-service experience rather than offering plants alone?
Plants are only successful long-term when they’re thoughtfully integrated into a space and maintained after installation. We didn’t want to be a business that just dropped plants off and hoped for the best.
A full-service model lets us build spaces intentionally. During consultations, we learn how a business functions, how much natural light exists, how much time staff realistically have for care, and what feeling they want customers or employees to experience.
We also believe education matters. It’s rare that a plant leaves our shop without plant-care & maintenance tips being discussed. We want clients to feel empowered and understand their plants versus being intimidated by them.
Offering installation, training, and maintenance creates a much better experience and leads to healthier plants and happier clients.
One unique aspect of your model is the flexibility of your maintenance plans and the warranty coverage for plants purchased through your company. How do those features reflect your philosophy on customer service and long-term partnerships?
For us, flexibility and support are everything. No two businesses operate the same way, so maintenance shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all either. Some spaces need weekly visits, others only need monthly support, and we wanted to create options that actually fit people’s needs.
Our warranty and maintenance options also reflect how we view customer relationships. We’re not looking for one transaction. Instead, we’re looking to build long-term partnerships. When clients invest in plants through us, we want them to feel confident that we’re invested too.
Ultimately, our philosophy is simple. We want businesses and homeowners to not only enjoy the beauty and benefits plants bring to their spaces, but also feel equipped with the right tools, education, and resources to confidently care for them long after installation day or their purchase in-store.
As you begin working with salons, restaurants, offices, clinics, and other local businesses, what excites you most about helping transform commercial spaces through thoughtfully designed living environments?
What excites us most is seeing how much plants can change the feeling of a space.
Plants soften environments, create comfort, reduce that sterile feeling many commercial spaces have, and make places feel more welcoming. A thoughtfully designed space changes how customers experience a business, and also impacts employees who spend hours there every day.
We’re especially excited to work with other local businesses because community has always been at the center of what we do. Being able to help create spaces where people gather, connect, work, and feel better while also supporting fellow business owners feels like a natural extension of our mission.
At the end of the day, we’re passionate about helping create environments people enjoy being in.
Link:
- Website: www.thenococlover.com
