12 / Business highlight that Feeling Co.

For AnchorAge plAnt shop, community cultivAtes growth

by Kirsten swAnn

At least once a week, Wasilla resident Briseida Avalos makes the drive into Anchorage, bound for an oasis of lush greenery in an industrial section of town. Inside That Feeling Co., customers are greeted by the aroma of espresso, a bright wave of viridescent vegetation and the warm touch of afternoon sunlight flooding through frosted glass.

The popular Anchorage coffee and houseplant shop has been a regular destination for Avalos since the day it opened more than a year and a half ago. An administrator of the 8,700 memberstrong Facebook group “Alaska Houseplant Enthusiasts,” Avalos is one of the many Alaskans who now count themselves among That Feeling Co.’s frequent customers.

“The whole vibe that you get there — full of love and peace, the way you’re greeted — it made it an amazing experience, and it’s something that has never changed,” Avalos said.

That vibe plays a big role in the business’s blossoming success: After opening in early 2020, just weeks before the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shop found ways to pivot, innovate, survive and even thrive. Today, it’s preparing to repot itself into a new space in downtown Anchorage.

The transformation represents the results of a consistent labor of love.

“We wanted to curate a really community-oriented space,” said co-owner Tanya Val, sipping coffee on a low couch surrounded by foliage and light in the shop one spring morning. “We wanted to make sure everyone felt safe and comfortable here.”

Those feelings were part of the business plan from the beginning. When Val opened the shop with her husband (then-fiancé), Carson Baldiviez, they found themselves inspired by the self-care and contentment that came from filling their own space with something green and alive.

“It’s very fulfilling to watch something grow,” Baldiviez said. “It’s really nice to feel you’re thriving with your plants, and you’re bringing them good watering and light schedule and they’re happy — it really does make you feel good.”

Inside the shop, plants cover nearly every surface — lined across tables, spilling from shelves, tucked into corners, arranged in rows on the floor. They overflow through open doors into neighboring Johnny’s Produce, giving the grocery owned by Baldiviez’s parents a lush, forest-like feeling. Customers can find

everything from tiny, delicate air plants to thick, sturdy snake plants, climbing vines and assorted cacti. There are more than 100 varieties at any one time, and the shop brings in around 1,000 plants a week, Baldiviez said. The greenery shares the space with a range of familiar, sustainable local goods. Customers can order drinks sourced from Uncle Leroy’s Coffee or Indigo Tea Lounge; gift shop selections include handmade products by Happy Mountain Designs, Fringe + Fiber and Waterbody (a skincare line from Wrangell). Shop merchandise is printed locally by Alaska Serigraphics.

These community connections have kept the shop rooted from the start.

On opening day in early 2020, word spread across social media. In the Facebook group “Alaska Houseplant Enthusiasts,” a posse of plant lovers made plans to visit. By the end of the day, the store was nearly sold out, Baldiviez said.

In the whirlwind weeks that followed, word spread like wildfire, and the shop embraced its role as a budding community space. They hosted a pop-up market for 10 local makers; they brought live music and a food truck into the parking lot. When the pandemic prompted the first wave of lockdowns just a few weeks later, they pivoted to curbside sales and virtual events: Val and Baldiviez tapped their professional backgrounds in marketing, graphic design and photography to build out a new website, and quickly. They were overwhelmed by the customer response.

“They were on our website like they were buying Taylor Swift tickets,” Baldiviez said.

The craving for plants was widespread and well-documented. In the new era of hunkering down and working from home, people were hungry to fill spaces with more greenery, more growth and more life, the owners found. From online retailers to local shops in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and beyond, house plant-based businesses reported increased sales and surging customer interest, according to local news reports. “We didn’t know plants were going to take off to the extent they have,” Val said.

At the same time, the shop continues to find ways to cultivate support for the community. Working with its employees to identify specific needs and causes, it has hosted fundraisers for the Alaska SeaLife Center and for Pride; it held a virtual benefit concert in support of the women’s health initiative Let Every Woman Know. It remained deeply supportive of the community and the community reciprocated, through the lockdown and beyond.

For Avalos, the Wasilla green thumb, the combination of plant and personal care is cathartic. The feeling of fresh dirt in her hands is healing; the individual attention from shop staff is a consistent bright spot. It became common for customers to find cute handwritten notes tucked into online orders, “the little things that can literally change someone’s day,” Avalos said. And those little things have a cumulative effect.

Now the shop is preparing to move into a new space, an openconcept indoor market shared with Johnny’s Produce, La Bodega and Fire Island Bakery. They’ll transplant their business from East Dowling Road to the edge of downtown, but the roots remain as deep as ever. The growth is a testament to the nurturing power of houseplants, and the symbiotic power of community.

“We’ve seen how supportive Anchorage is — in a bigger way than we thought,” Baldiviez said. “We’ve been feeling the love from so many people.”

it’s really nice to feel you’re thriving with your plants, and you’re bringing them good watering and light schedule and they’re happy