On the first official day of winter, December 21 Jenny Hauser opened Field Trip Flowers (173 Green St.). Opening a small business during the pandemic was a risk, but Hauser, a seasoned entrepreneur, found a good spot that was near her apartment and took the leap.
“I’ve been in the industry for a while so I kind of knew what I was getting into,” Hauser said. “Greenpoint was a perfect fit. I wanted to make sure my location as central and easy to get to and I wanted to be able to deliver to Queens and Manhattan. I knew the foot traffic would be risky because of the pandemic.” So far, business has been a mix of walk-in customers and lots of deliveries for birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, and all types of daily celebrations.
Hauser previously co-owned Bohaus, a flower and coffee shop in Bed-Stuy for five years. It closed at the end of January. Her business partner and close friend Laura Bonnie is moving to LA and “it didn’t feel right without one another.” Running Bohaus clarified Hauser’s business goals. “That store’s identity became the hybridity of it: the coffee, the flowers, the plants. I wanted to do something on my own, my own brand, I wanted to focus solely on flowers,” Hauser said. “That’s what makes me happy, I like gifting, I like sending flowers out, I like making people smile. And that’s what propelled me to open my own business.”
At Field Trip, Hauser also stocks items from other women business owners, especially new businesses, “I’m a woman myself and I know the risk you take in opening a business as a woman. I look for pretty small businesses to work with. I know as a new business owner, it would have made my day for a flower shop or another business to offer my goods. I want to be a hub for that” When it’s safe to do so, Hauser hopes to host pop ups for other small business owners who make pottery and plant hangers as well as classes like bouquet making, potting and other “I wish I knew how to do this” skills.
Field Trip is named in memory of Hauser’s mother who passed away in March 2016, just before the opening of Bohaus. Hauser doesn’t have too many good memories of her mother, who lived “a pretty hard life, but I have one memory of her. We went to the Baltimore Zoo on a field trip. I remember her outfit and her hair. She was young, she had me when she was 18, so she must have been 25 at the time. She was a chaperone and I felt super proud of her. This will always be for her. I want her to be proud of me. That’s a memory I will never forget and I want people to have good memories.”
Hauser’s apartment is very close to the shop, giving her the flexibility to fulfill same day orders. She tries to take “every same day delivery, it’s rare that I turn someone down. I know the feeling and I try to take care of everyone that contacts me.”
If you’re giving or receiving a dried bouquet, make sure to take care of it. Dried flowers, which are “trending right now, they last forever. Keep them out of the sun, keep them stationary, I wouldn’t rearrange them.” Fresh flowers, Hauser says, “Are always a classic. Temporary beauty is a statement in itself.”