In addition to plants, Evergeen WB also features handmade pottery, cards, soap, jewelry and more.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Two friends open Evergeen WB in downtown
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Sara Crolick, left, and Holly Pilcavage have opened Evergeen WB on Northampton Street in Wilkes-Barre.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Holly Pilcavage, left, and Sara Crolick pose in Evergeen WB on Northampton Street in Wilkes-Barre. The plant shop officially opened its doors on March 7.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — Six months ago, Holly Pilcavage sent her friend, Sara Crolick, a picture of a vacant business space downtown with a caption that read, “So, do you want to open that plant shop we always dreamed about?”
“I didn’t even give it much thought,” Crolick recalled during a recent Zoom interview with the Times Leader. “I just kind of reacted and was like, ‘Oh, yes. Now is the time.’ So, we got right to work.”
That hypothetical business venture is now a reality.
Evergreen WB, located at 27 E. North Hampton St., officially opened its doors on March 7 with an inventory full of hand picked house plants and cacti.
Through partnering with local artisans and creators, the shop also features handmade pottery, cards, soap, jewelry and more.
In the next few months, Pilcavage, 33, and Crolick, 40, plan to hold community workshops in the space as well. While some will be plant centered others will be based around what the community is interested in.
“We’re pinching ourselves every day,” Crolick said. “Our soft open weekend turned into a soft open Saturday because we had no idea that we were gonna get the turn out that we did so we had to hurry up and restock.”
The shop was a recipient of the Spark Wilkes-Barre grant program, which provides funding to help businesses in the city get off the ground and ensure sustainability.
“It feels really special to be apart of this moment of revitalization in Wilkes-Barre. We’re seeing so many incredible shops pop up,” Crolick said.
Both owners were proud of how much they accomplished so far, especially with having so many other work and life commitments.
Pilcavage, a graduate of the University of Scranton and the University of Akron, is currently the president and CEO of Coal Creative and sits on the board of several community organizations.
Crolick, a mother of three who received a BA in English from Wilkes University, serves as the editorial director of Kooth, an online mental health service for school-aged children.
“It’s a lot to juggle, but we did it,” Crolick said.
Sill, there were some bumps in the road.
“When we got our first inventory, which was delivered, it was probably 120 plants and it comes in the dead of the coldest week that we ended up having in winter this year,” Pilcavage explained. “If you don’t know anything about house plants, they don’t like the cold and with the traveling, they got a little banged up.”
They quickly learned their lesson and now, Crolick and Pilcavage physically go to greenhouses and hand pick every plant that is sold out of the shop, taking into account the type of plants their customers are looking for.
“We get a lot of comments about how healthy and well taken care of (the plants) look. We’re in there, we’re looking at every leaf and the roots and we’re like, ‘Is this good enough?’” Pilcavage said, laughing.
When customers purchase from Evergreen WB, they will leave with crucial knowledge about how to take care of their plant, including how often to water it and how much light it needs, as well as if it’s pet friendly.
So, how exactly did this love and care for plant life development?
For Pilcavage, it started after moving into her own apartment back in 2017, when she didn’t have a lot of money available to furnish the space.
“I just started buying plants because, depending on the plant, they were cheaper. They made it look good, made it look full,” Pilcavage explained.
Her love grew and once she became financially stable, her collection expanded.
“I literally dedicated the front space of my apartment and called it the plant room. They all existed in there and it was just like an oasis for me,” Pilcavage said.
Crolick bought plants while living in Denver as a way to feel connected to home and to her father, who she described as having “the most vibrant green thumb I’ve ever encountered in another human.”
“It’s like an important medicine in my life. It really allows me to slow down. I talk to my plants and all the ones we sell like, ‘Good luck in your new home, buddy,’” Crolick said.
In addition to sharing this love with their customers, the co-owners hope to build a vibrant collective to highlight the many talented creators in the area.
Within the next couple of weeks, there will be least 25 artists exhibiting their work in the shop.
Currently, Evergreen offers 70/30 payment terms to artists and gives them complete control over the listing prince of their inventory.
“I think that’s very healthy and it puts the artist first. We want them to benefit from this,” Pilcavage said.
Evergreen WB is open Thursday through Friday, noon to 7 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Want to be apart of the Evergreen Collective? Click here to fill out the online form. Visit the shop’s Facebook page to fill out the online form.