Pop Up Plant Shop Brings Sustainable Culture To Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG, NY — Directly under the iconic “Mona Lisa of Williamsburg” street painting at Bedford Avenue and Broadway lies Pollyn, a new sustainable outdoor plant shop, garden cafe and event space. Completely powered by solar energy, the space has been breathing life into the area since it opened in June.

True to its tagline “We shall grow,” Pollyn owners and longtime Williamsburg residents Andreas and Stephanie Szankay hope to raise awareness of sustainability options in the plant industry while bringing together their neighbors.

And their business' evolution is a testament to the slogan.

The Szankays started with the idea to create a pop-up plant shop back in late 2020. Slowly, their venture grew from one little yellow truck named Polly to the multi-use space in the heart of Williamsburg.

Stephanie had previously worked at Sprout Home, a renowned plant store headquartered in Chicago. But when the company had to shut down its New York City location in October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was left without an income.

So the couple turned to Polly. When the hurdles of obtaining a street-vending permit became too time-consuming, they sought out the right parking lot for their truck. They immediately thought of the empty lot under the mural just two-and-a-half blocks from their house. They asked around and eventually found the owner, who agreed to rent the space to them.

After officially renting the lot in December 2020, the couple and friends started cleaning up the space.

The group soon grew to almost 20 people. They got down and dirty — removing weeds, trash and debris and planting seeds along the border of the area. Building out the space became an extended community hangout event, with pizza or a BBQ-style dinner at the end of the night, at a time when people were eager to gather.

Together, roughly 70 people turned a small parking lot into a space for the community to congregate.

“Everyone always supported us,” Andreas said. “We were getting stuff done ourselves and people just enjoyed being here with us.”

Pollyn officially opened in June 2021. It is the first plant store in the U.S. to sell plants in only biodegradable nursery pots, according to the owners.

Today, it sells houseplants, including rare tropicals, as well as outdoor annuals and perennials. It also sell ceramics from small-batch artisans, and in a greenhouse are organic and fair traded soft drinks, coffee, alcoholic beverages, baked goods from Sobre Massa and, of course, Pollyn merch made by a local artist and friend of the owners who runs Authentic Brooklyn.

On top of all that, Pollyn offers events, workshops and talks centered around topics like horticulture, plant care, composting, food waste, hemp growing and more.

Products from other eco-friendly businesses make a cameo in the space, too. An outdoor LOLL Designs swing made out of milk recycled milk jugs hangs in Pollyn’s solar canopy, and the solar paneling itself comes from Brooklyn SolarWorks.

The Szankays want to remind people to keep nature in nature. By switching from plastic to biodegradable pots, they hope other plant shops will join them in putting pressure on the plant nurseries and distributors to cut down on single-use plastic.

“A lot of that price to switch over [from plastic to biodegradable pots] is negligible — it gets worked into the price, but not too much,” Stephanie said. “Customers don’t want nature that is wrapped up in oil. They want a pot they can plant with their plant.”

As an outdoor store, Pollyn is vulnerable to the elements. The Szankays say they have never been so attuned to the sun and the weather as they are now. But the couple still finds time to run pop-ups around the rest of the city and host parties with local food and music at Pollyn.

This fall, they plan to host a holiday market at Pollyn with sustainable Christmas trees before closing for winter. While closed, they hope the space can be utilized as an art installation, so it can still be a source of art and life for the community.

Sitting in the garden they built with their friends, the couple says the evolution of Pollyn feels just right — something they always felt intuitively was possible.

“If you open it up to others — the community, the neighborhood,” Andreas said, “things will happen that you never could have imagined.”