Plant shop takes root in Centennial

BY RACHEL LORENZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

To look at Jessica Austin’s shop, you’d never know she has a passion for death. e 900-square-foot space in Centennial feels too bright and fresh.

“People are very surprised when I tell them I used to roll bodies into bags,” the 35-year-old entrepreneur told Colorado Community Media.

A year ago, Austin moved her home-based business, Mrs. Fancy Plants, into the Heritage Place Shopping Center on East Arapahoe Road. ere, among white walls, a breezy botanical mural and lots of greenery, the lifelong Coloradan sells house plants and custom oral arrangements, holds workshops, and rents out her space for photo shoots and private events.

“I’m proud of how far my brand has grown,” Austin said. “I literally am grassroots … jumping the hurdles of entrepreneurship.”

In 2020, Austin started growing houseplants from cuttings in her son’s bathroom to sell on Etsy. She expanded her edgling business to a shed in her backyard which allowed her to o er plant shopping your house for hours on end,” said Greenwood Village Councilmember Donna Johnston. “ e residents are not going to stop until there’s a resolution because their homes, their sanctuary, their lives are being a ected.” e increase in noise and air tra c began approximately eight months ago, Dubler said. “We’re not antiairport. We’re not anti-pilot. We just want our homes back that we had eight months ago,” she said.