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 by appointment to people in the area. Eventually, a move to a commercial space felt right.

In addition to shelves and shelves of plants, Austin lls her boutique with touches of home. A plush couch. A clawfoot bathtub. A white wicker chair. It helps her customers think about how to style their own houses with plants.

“It kind of gives people an idea of ‘OK, I can see this in my living room,’” she said.

While Austin enjoys the plant world, her rst love is all things morbid. As a grade schooler, she was a fan of the TV show “Forensic Files.” She was nicknamed Wednesday, a reference to the death-obsessed