I drove by the strip center containing Pearl Plants earlier this week and was instantly intrigued. It's located in a small, older strip building (3 businesses) located just east of The Mousetrap near 56th and Keystone.
This is a small establishment by appearances, though it's bigger on the inside and roomy enough that I was quite impressed with wheelchair accessibility.
Pearl Plants is, you can probably guess, a plant shop. It's level to the ground and has a couple accessible, though not legally, parking spots directly in front of it. I was able to use one of the spots. The doorway is relatively easy to open, though an employee saw me and came over just to make sure I got in. The front room is filled with plants, though they have nice pathways and I had no trouble maneuvering in the wheelchair. They have a fairly wide variety of plants, though it's important to note they're new enough that they're still getting settled and stocked. I was a little concerned with some of the plants that didn't look terrific, though overall the selection was solid and the prices were fair. They had a nice variety of prices, as well. Got a kid that wants a plant? They have the cutest smaller plants that you can get for $4-6.
The front room is primarily plants, though they do have some planters and some other smaller plant-related items. There's a room behind the main room that is mainly filled with planters and plant stands and similar equipment. Again, I found the prices fair.
Finally, there's also a back room. It includes more plant-related items. They also have art on the wall for sale in the backroom - it seemed mostly plant or nature related. My sense was that it was local.
The shop was clean. They were cleaning and requiring masks. Additionally, they had masks laid out at the door (disposable) and some masks for sale.
Employees were friendly, though introverted. They were helpful - they regularly offered help but not in an intrusive way. I ended up buying a plant mainly because I want to support the new kid on the block on this hard time. I've been on a plant binge lately and I may be in trouble having a plant shop so close to my house.
I'll definitely be back. I'll likely wait for them to get a bit more settled. I'd like to get a bigger plant for my home and parking is close enough to the door here that it will be easier to facilitate. With friendly employees, a welcoming environment, a nice selection, and good prices this is a nice addition to the SoBro area and here's hoping the word gets out.
I will confess I pondered a 4-star rating here. However, I'm giving the "newly opened" curve and the benefit of the doubt. I like this place a lot and am leaning upward and sticking with the 5-star. read more