Green Rooms co-founders Annie and Jemma are about as close as business partners can be. Identical twins, they’ve moved in tandem throughout their lives, from their upbringing in rural Sussex to studying at Nottingham University and moving to south London to pursue their careers.
They even managed to start their own families at the same time, and it was while on maternity leave in 2018 that the sisters, now based in Catford, came up with the idea for Green Rooms: a marketplace for houseplants, which originally ran on a pop-up, in-person bases but now operates as a permanent online marketplace, too.
Bringing plant shops from all over London under one roof, the markets are a chance to shop for new greenery (as well as pots, plant care and accessories), pick up tips for caring for your existing ones and meet fellow plant enthusiasts.
They’ve been held in Peckham Levels, Brixton Village, Gipsy Hill Brewery, Dulwich Picture Gallery and several other locations over the years, and while the sisters are currently focusing their attention on their online marketplace, it’s worth keeping an eye on their website for future market dates.
We spoke to Annie and Jemma about how Green Rooms began and how it’s going…
What was your relationship with plants before setting up your business?
Growing up to self-employed garden designer parents, we spent our childhoods alongside our parents as they worked, visiting clients’ gardens with them and going to plant nurseries. From a very young age, a love of nature and plants had been instilled within us.
What inspired you to set up a business bringing plant shops together?
While on maternity leave, we were yearning for more plants in our lives and a closer relationship with nature again. South east London had lots of great plant shops and garden centres (Forest, London Terrariums, Alleyn Park Garden Centre and The Nunhead Gardener among them), but we realised there was a gap in the market for a contemporary pop-up houseplant market that could bring these great indie businesses together for fun shopping events.
Are you big plant collectors yourselves?
Jemma’s home is full of houseplants whereas Annie favours outdoor plants and has created a lovely urban garden within her small Catford space.
What were you doing before setting up Green Rooms? Do your professional backgrounds feed into your work for Green Rooms?
I, Jemma, was working as a homeware buyer for highstreet retailers, and Annie as a project manager. My background in retail head offices has really helped me understand the retail journey as a whole – from product design and development to visual merchandising, shipping, logistics and ecommerce.
Annie’s project management skills have been vital in getting the online marketplace launched, and her online advertising knowledge has been used throughout the business.
How have you found going into business together as sisters? Has it been difficult mixing the familial with the professional?
We are very lucky that we are identical twins. Our brains work in very similar ways, so we rarely disagree, but when we do, we talk it through and come to a rational agreement.
I don’t think there are many other people that either of us could work with so closely or seamlessly. There is definitely an intuition between us that helps. We don’t really have set roles; we have a much more ad-hoc approach to who does what, when they can.
What are the benefits for customers of shopping at a plant market rather than an individual store?
In terms of our in-person markets, they really are a joyous way to spend the day, browsing and shopping from up to 30 independent businesses all under one roof.
We curate our markets, turning them into indoor jungles and ensuring that we have an engaging mix of businesses and products for our customers. We put on workshops, talks, demonstrations and free potting services from industry experts, so they really are a well-rounded day out.
Our online marketplace is also highly curated.
Customers shopping for plants and plant care items generally have to hop from one website to another to purchase everything they want, so shopgreenrooms.com aims to negate this by bringing great independent retailers all together on one website.
Take us through a market day for you. What needs to be organised and what is there for visitors to enjoy besides from the plants?
Prior to the markets, we work through recruiting stall holders, arranging the finer details with the venues, press and marketing, and ensuring a curated layout and flow to the market stalls.
The day goes by in a whirl of chatting to customers and traders; workshops, talks and demonstrations taking place; and taking photos and video along the way.
The venues we work with always have a food and drink offering, and many customers love to make a day of it.
Lastly, as south London locals, what do you like about living and working this side of the river?
Both our partners are born and bred south Londoners, so it is definitely home for us.
We love having lots of local parks within walking distance and the friendly communities around us.
A typical weekend for us (when we don’t have a market) would be spending time with both our families together, going to a park and café, or seeing local friends and spending time in our little gardens when the weather allows.
For more information about Green Rooms, visit www.shopgreenrooms.com/
