ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A vacant Allentown restaurant soon could be full of life again.
Plant life.
Allentown Zoning Hearing Board on Monday unanimously approved Barbara Detares’s request to open a plant store at 401 N. 8th St., where Brisas del Caribe Restaurant operated for many years.
Detares plans to sell household plants, including some exotic varieties, as well as accessories such as soil, plant food and growing lights, she told zoning officials.
The plant store will be “more e-tail than retail” and not create much additional traffic in the area.Attorney Jeff Fleischaker
The store would also offer small gifts, flower arrangements, cards, crystals and home decor.
Detares’s attorney, Jeff Fleischaker, said the store will be “more e-tail than retail” and not create much additional traffic in the area.
The store will be more like Dan Schantz Greenhouse than 1-800-FLOWERS, Fleischaker said.
“Except I think I’d have a little bit more exotic selection,” Detares said.
She said she plans to grow most of the store’s plants on her own property.
Many customers likely will place orders online to be shipped throughout the United States, Detares said, noting most plants can survive about three days in transit.
Detares is very familiar with the property she’s about to move into; she’s been the property manager there for more than a year.
The property’s owner last year failed with an application to open a convenience store in the first-floor commercial space, which he said sat vacant for about 15 years before he bought it.
He told zoning officials he invested about $15,000 to upgrade the area where the plant store is set to open.
But it still needs work before the plant store can open, with crews to install a half-bathroom and a new door, among other upgrades, Detares said.
