Tiny Greens is downtown Peterborough’s indoor plant paradise! Open seven days a week, you can find plants, pots, accessories, a DIY planting studio, and more.
Tina Bromley opened the George Street plant store in 2017, attracting visitors with its aesthetically pleasing window of greenery. Though when the pandemic hit and the streets went quiet, customers proceeded to her online site to shop. Bromley knew she had to work fast to implement e-commerce into her business. That’s when she discovered Community Futures Peterborough could help.
Community Futures Peterborough launched the “Bring Your Business Online” program in May 2020. The organization was able to assist 21 local businesses in adding e-commerce to their websites.
“We had a beautiful plant shop that people loved, but hardly had any online presence before Covid,” says Bromley. “We had some, but nothing that successfully generated income. To survive, we suddenly needed to figure out how to get an online following fast.”
“The program helped us achieve this and generate an additional income stream quickly. This allowed us to continue to evolve and reopen stronger with a new and larger customer base excited to walk back through our doors or visit us for the first time.”
After the website addition, Tiny Greens was experiencing a high level of growth. Bromley looked forward to navigating this complex stage of ownership, while researching new retail trends, continuing to expand the experiential elements to the plant shop, and searching for mentorship that focused on the scaling stage of a business.
However, most local training focused on the startup growth stage. Community Futures Peterborough recognized this support gap for business owners, and decided to launch a Business Scale Up pilot program. The program was led by Diane Richard, President at both Diatom Consulting and Professional Training Inc. as well as a previous board member with Community Futures Peterborough. Six businesses were hand-picked, including Tiny Greens, to take part in the program.
The program allowed business owners to learn from each other as they worked through modules focused on financial management, supply chain best practices, people management, crisis management, organization design, and good governance policies.
“It was such a positive experience working with Diane and (Community Futures Peterborough executive director Gail Moorhouse) as well as the other incredible business women in the group,” says Bromley. “I felt surrounded and supported with so much wisdom, group interaction, peer learning, and one-on-one coaching.”
“The program was so timely and very focused on business growth strategies. I was drawn to this more advanced business program to bridge the gap from startup to scale up in business as an entrepreneur. I now have a clear scale up plan that’s achievable and on track. I have already benefited from implementing small strategic changes that’s created big results in my business.”
Tiny Greens continues to thrive and bring plants and joy to everyone who visits, Bromley says.
“Our customers can always look forward to visiting a joyful indoor garden atmosphere, amazing staff, and plant offerings,” she adds. “We are also excited to welcome you to our new planting studios, where you can book a planting party with friends, a work function or birthday planting party. Our studios are always open so you can drop in to plant anytime or call and book a table.”
Tiny Greens also offers unique bulk planting kits for organizations, schools, and events.
Located at 431 George Street North in downtown Peterborough, Tiny Greens is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information and to shop online, visit www.tinygreens.ca.
This local business story is one of a series supplied by Community Futures Peterborough (CFP), a not-for-profit community-based organization providing a variety of small business and community economic development services within the City and County of Peterborough. Community Futures Peterborough operates under a contribution agreement with the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) to provide programs to rural communities.
The Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) Program is a national, rural community, economic initiative. Community Futures Peterborough provides business loans and other business financing to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). They also provide business counselling and education services and offer access to business resources and assistance with starting a new business. CFDC’s work with local businesses, not for profits, municipalities, and First Nations as well as provincial, regional, or county governments on a wide variety of community economic capacity development planning and projects.
For more information about Community Futures Peterborough, call 705-745-5434 or visit communityfuturespeterborough.ca. For up-to-date financing opportunities, news, advice, and more, follow Community Futures Peterborough on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
