save plantney, the queer plant shop

Hi, my name is Nick and this is a story about a plant shop named Plantney.

First a little about me, I am a first generation university graduate of the University of Arizona, I was able to get an academic scholarship to pay, and have worked so hard to make my family proud.

Plantney was born in August of 2020 from an instagram page showcasing my love of plants to the world, through my own quirky, VERY GAY, lens. It was always a dream of mine to someday share the plants I was growing with the world and maybe escape the job that was causing me so much stress and anxiety.

One thing lead to another and an affordable artist studio became available, and Plantney moved in. From the technicolor pink walls, loud pop music, and of course house plants, I embarked on a mission to share gay plants with the world, with a special infusion of pop culture and miss Britney Spears.

I was able to grow in that space and after a year was able to upgrade to a real (kind of) retail location. The new space was five or six times as big, has a loft, and much more room for activities.

In this new space we have been able to share our love of plants, grow an artist's corner to help showcase local art and goods, host benefit drag shows to help the community, and many other local planty functions.

For the first two years we experience the usual growing pains, but things seemed to be working for the most part, and we were able to put the money Plantney made into getting new plants, throwing events and doing amazing things, but as the world changed things got harder.

Things have slowed down a bit now that people aren't home as much as in the past few years and now that people don't have as much money as they used to. We have tried to pivot and find out footing, but at this point we do not have enough money coming in to continue buying new inventory, pay the bills, pay out our artists, or even pay me. I haven't gotten a paycheck in months and have been putting any extra money I have into this plant store.

I have been working so hard to make this plant store work, and so much has changed behind the scenes for the better. I just need a little help to keep this dream on its feet. We deserve to have a safe, very loudly queer space in our town, and I would love if you could help me fight for it.

Thank you, I love you.