Planting hope during a pandemic

When the coronavirus pandemic forced shutdowns, a boutique owner created a new business model for her customers to shop.

Video Transcript

MARIA CARAVATI: Having plants has always been a huge part of my life. I just felt that we needed to bring this to the community on a larger scale.

I'm Maria Caravati, the owner of Equinox Botanical Boutique.

You know, you can either just go into a hole and cry and say, like, oh my God, I don't know how I'm going to ever get out of this. And, honestly, I had a couple really rough days when this first happened because, you know, I didn't know how was going to pay my mortgage, my employee.

I mean, it just really took off. And so we went from Equinox the Body and Soul Boutique to Equinox the Botanical Boutique. You know, we have our garden supplies, our house-plant supplies, pots, soils, organic fertilizers. And so now since we have the Botanical Boutique, I've really expanded supplies and everything that goes along with having plants in your home and how to care for them and teaching people how to take care of them is important as well.

I thought we're going to do true window shopping. So what I did was I would-- I posted my cell-phone number on the window, and I suggested that people just browse the windows and see if there is something specifically that you like or if there is something that you don't see that you're interested in. Just let me know when you call me on the phone. So that's what we did.

I would suggest that look at other ways that you can bring your products-- you might have to alter it in some way-- to the consumer, especially if it's something that you're so passionate about. And if you really believe in it-- and I think that staying focused and having that hope and faith, you know, I think is obviously very important too.

There are people who want to help local businesses and small businesses because they know how important it is for us to maintain. We're the backbones of the community, right?

People are in isolation, and so it's even more important now for me to connect plants with people and people with plants. They see a new leaf growing, and it gives them hope for one thing. It makes people feel like, oh my gosh, I did that.