Jade Adams, owner of Oglewood Avenue, the popular plant shop in North Knoxville, has announced that she and fiancé Dylan Pacifico will soon open two new businesses at 15 Emory Place (former home of Pivot Point Art Gallery). Not to worry, the Oglewood shop will remain open and, while you can expect to find lots of happy plants in the new spaces, they will be separate and different types of business both from Oglewood and from each other. I spoke with Jade and Dylan to learn more about their background and their plans.
Jade is from Nashville and attended UTK, obtaining a degree in microbiology and chemistry, and originally planned to attend medical school. “I had a little bit of plant knowledge, but not a lot, and then I got crazy into it during the pandemic.” She’d also experienced a loss in her life, with the death of a fiancé, and plants provided a comfort. “I had three hundred at some point. My mom came to my house and said, ‘You have a problem. You should fix this.’
She’d rapidly accumulated so many plants that opening a shop practically suggested itself. She sold plants out of her house, then opened the brick-and-mortar shop in October 2020. The business was an immediate success. “People like plants and it was a place that if you are feeling stressed, you could come and relax, take a deep breath, and be with the plants.” She said she was the first plant store in the city of this sort and she’s enjoyed a steady business from regular patrons and others.
Dylan moved to Knoxville from California during high school, then attended UTK where he got a degree in Supply Chain Management. He moved to Charlotte and worked for a couple of companies and he continues to work remotely for Campbell Soup. He and Jade met five years ago and he admired her business achievements, as he’d always wanted to open his own business. Their common interests and desire to open new businesses led to this joint venture.
Mother Shop will occupy the upper floor of the building and will feature “gifts and goods.” A wide range of items will be available in Mother Shop, including “purses, totes, candles, apparel, home décor, jewelry, pottery, pillows, blankets, and more.
The types of items will be slightly different in each of the three upstairs rooms. One room is “for yourself,” including items a person might buy (you guessed it) for yourself. This is where you’ll find the “jewelry, knick-knacks.” Another will be more directed at the kinds of things you might buy as a gift for others, like “more hard goods, journals, books, notepads, stationary.” The third room will be devoted to apparel.
She hopes the shop will open the first or second week in March. She’s already started stocking the rooms and explained that “Since I have a retail shop, there are vendors I already have a relationship with” and that has helped quickly get goods in place. She said lots of people who bought plants at the other store would be the customers for the goods she’ll have in the new shop, so it presented a natural next step.
The downstairs space, Mother Bar will take longer to open, hopefully by April, she said, but more likely by the summer. The buildout will be far more involved, as will permitting. She said that, while it might seem surprising, the wine bar is also a natural outgrowth of her experience in the other shop. She realized that people really enjoyed being in the space and enjoying the plants, often lingering longer than necessary to make a purchase. That made her think about the possibilities of creating a similar space that was designed for longer stays. What better to do among plants than enjoy good wine and small bites with your friends?
“A lot of people would say, ‘Wow, I love this environment and stay an hour, sometimes two hours just walking the aisles and chatting.'” Oglewood Avenue, at 900 square feet wasn’t big enough or designed to be a place for socializing, but it made her wonder if she could replicate the appeal of the atmosphere. She’d looked at buildings for several years and eyed the building at 15 Emory Place before, loving everything about it but, particularly, the large, plant-loving, southern-facing windows. When it came available again she knew it was time to transform her ideas into realty.
“I wanted a place where you could feel like you’re in a greenhouse, but not have to buy something. It’s a wine bar/plant bar, maybe in a year we’ll add cocktails. I wanted to start small and grow from there.” When you come in you’ll see lots of plants. Enjoy hanging out with the plants—or, if you meet that special plant, take them home.
While the two are in both ventures together, Jade will focus on the upstairs, while Dylan focuses on the bar. I asked what we might expect there and he said both beer and wine will be served from the beginning. “The beer will be mostly imports, Peroni, for example, and then you have your staples like Bud Light . . . We’ll have southern beers like Mexican.” Wine, he said, will most focus on whites to Rosé, but will also include some good reds.
The theme you’ll find, in addition to beautiful plants, is “affordable wines by the glass where you won’t break the bank.” He said they will probably have some higher-priced wines, “the goal is to find good and affordable wines you can enjoy by the glass.” There will be bottle options, if you like.
Jade added, “It will be more introductory wine.” Noting that she was overwhelmed with large lists when she first started drinking wine, she said, “I didn’t know where to start. So, one of my goals is to appeal to people who aren’t into wine, yet.” Dylan said at the price point, people can experiment without too much risk. They’ll also offer flights of wine so people can search for the wines that appeal to them.
Food will also be available, mostly in the form of small bits or tapas. Dylan said, “You can expect flat breads, olives, charcuterie, bruschetta, brie cheese and apples, brie cheese and toast. It will be comfort food.” Jade added its the kind of food they enjoyed in Europe. “We drank a lot of wine and ate a lot of tapas.” They hope people will drink wine, enjoy the plants, eat some food and stay to enjoy their friends. They said, come in, enjoy some wine, read a book, and simply spend some relaxing time.
The wine bar will include bar seating, with small tables in the small nooks in the front windows. They’ll have tables in the middle and the back will have cozy seating with maybe a couch or booths. Of course, every seat will be surrounded by beautiful plants, which will also be for sale.
You can also expect a flow of events hosted by the shops. Last weekend they kicked it off by bringing in several vendors for an events. They plant to offer trivia and other events around popular themes.
Look for announcements about the shop opening in late March and the bar in April or May. For the latest, follow them on Instagram: @mothershopknox and @motherbarknox.