Natalie Nijmeh’s downtown San Jose retailer could also be small — roughly equal to a single-car storage — however it packs a rebellious punch. Beginning with its title.
Plant Slut, positioned smack dab in the course of San Pedro Sq., is what you possibly can name a bohemian Gen Z-ers paradise. There are the vegetation in fact, from little cacti to a 9-foot-tall fig tree. Different goodies additionally fill the shop, from marijuana-themed ashtrays to body-part-shaped mini ceramic pots to a turquoise-colored bar of cleaning soap with a two-word phrase etched in it that may’t be printed on this newspaper.
Trace: it rhymes with “bucket.”
For 25-year-old Nijmeh, a San Jose native, the store is a dream come true. After graduating from Cal State Lengthy Seaside three years in the past, she was in a job that simply wasn’t doing it for her. Whereas promoting vegetation as a aspect enterprise, Nijmeh made a leap of religion and turned the gig right into a full-time job when she opened her retailer nearly precisely a yr in the past in February. We sat down together with her — and her vegetation — to speak about her younger entrepreneurship, the inspiration for her store’s title and the time an legal professional got here in to search out solace among the many greenery.
Q When did the plant obsession start?
A My curiosity in vegetation (began) after I was in school. I used to be in several flats. They usually weren’t the prettiest. So I wished one thing to deliver life into the flats and recent air and wonder. It solely amplified throughout COVID when all people’s indoors. I feel everybody realized that like, oh my god, vegetation look superb indoors. And there was an enormous growth within the trade. Then I graduated from school in 2020. And I used to be unemployed for some time and sort of simply floating round and in a bizarre area of being graduated but additionally in a pandemic. It was a really bizarre time. After which I believed to myself, what can be the perfect job on this planet? Most likely to be an proprietor of a plant retailer.
Q And so how did this retailer come to be?
A I did find yourself getting a nine-to-five job finally. And really early on in that job, I noticed that a nine-to-five job wasn’t for me. I used to be in public relations. I (began) promoting vegetation on the weekends whereas I used to be nonetheless working. Then it grew actually quick. I give up (public relations) and I obtained a lease supply. Being an entrepreneur is my chosen profession path. It’s what I really like.
Q I've to ask. How’d you give you the title? Does it ever rub individuals the unsuitable method?
A The title was one of many first issues that I truly considered. I knew I wished one thing enjoyable, one thing completely different, one thing distinctive, one thing memorable. Ninety p.c of people that have ever encountered the title have a really optimistic response, like smile or fun or one thing. Each on occasion there might be possibly an older one that is uncomfortable with it. And I perceive. However I'm additionally part of the Gen Z era. And I do imagine that my era would be the ones to cease utilizing slut and different phrases in a method that belittles ladies or objectifies them or shames them. So I feel placing slut within the title is step one of unraveling all of the years of disgrace. It takes the destructive energy out of it.
Q What sells the perfect in your retailer? And what's your favourite plant?
A Issues which are pink or have purple undersides. Like these (factors to a plant known as tradescantia callisia). That is (one other) certainly one of my favorites proper now that’s within the (factors to a philodendron fuzzy petiole). I simply love the heart-shaped leaves.
Q What’s one thing individuals don’t learn about in relation to plant care?
A Lots of people are a bit bit frightened by vegetation. They’re like, properly, I would like it and it’s fairly, but when it dies, I’m going to be actually unhappy. So lots of people I discover are intimidated, however it’s a lot simpler than you'd assume. And truly overthinking the method is sort of one of many best methods to kill a plant. They need it to remain alive so unhealthy, so that they’re all the time checking on it on daily basis, and so they’re all the time making an attempt to water it or they’re like, you realize, careworn concerning the circumstances of the plant.
Q So the important thing to proudly owning a plant is just not being like a very protecting mother or father?
A Proper. Some individuals water their vegetation a lot as a result of they adore it a lot. After which they die.
Q What’s essentially the most memorable cause somebody has purchased a plant from you?
A We're positioned proper subsequent to the courthouse. There was one time a really distressed lady got here in and she or he was having clearly a really unhealthy day. She was an legal professional. She’s like, I simply want to the touch vegetation. Proper now I’m having a nasty day. She simply got here in right here extra to form of relax. She truly (later) bought one thing on-line, which I believed was actually candy of her.
NATALIE NIJMEH PROFILE
Title: Proprietor of Plant Slut since February 2022
Residence: San Jose
Favourite merchandise she sells: The embroidered Plant Slut sweaters.
FIVE THINGS ABOUT NATALIE AND HER SHOP
- About 100 completely different plant varieties have been bought in her retailer
- Natalie obtained her lease by means of San Jose Made, a bunch that helps small companies get off the bottom by providing them decrease rental charges in comparison with different retail places within the Bay Space
- Natalie’s retailer is nearly 300 sq. toes — and San Jose Made’s small enterprise program solely permits her to lease her area for one more yr
- Over 30 small companies are represented in Natalie’s retailer
- When Natalie was making an attempt to make a emblem, she reached out to her buddy and artist Vivian Garcia, who first made a hand-drawn sketch of a chilled-out smiling flower holding a watering can. The buddy then made a second, extra “touched-up” model, however Natalie ended up utilizing the primary sketch due to how a lot she appreciated it.
An eye fixed-shaped magnetic plant attraction. (Dai Sugano/Bay Space Information Group) 
Pots and vegetation. (Dai Sugano/Bay Space Information Group) 
Notebooks and journals. (Dai Sugano/Bay Space Information Group) 
Greeting playing cards. (Dai Sugano/Bay Space Information Group)