Tucked into the busy intersection of Texas Street and University Avenue, North Park Nursery has become a rare hotspot in our falling economy.
“Year after year, we've been progressively growing the business, but really a big boom happened when COVID happened," said owner Jeffery Thrift.
Thrift says that since the first days of the pandemic, his business has seen an unprecedented sales surge.
“Almost quadrupled, they've probably grown three times in that short period of time," Thrift said.
Indoor plants, succulents, edible plants, just about everything has been flying out of his two North Park locations.
“Since I've been home, I've been collecting a lot more,” said Eva Parrill, a customer at North Park Nursery. “A year ago, I had two or three and now I have a lot more."
With record sales and earnings, the plant store is among a select group of businesses in San Diego doing well because of the pandemic.
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A few blocks down the street, Adams Avenue Bicycles is also reporting a huge sales boost.
“We literally sold our entire inventory of bikes," said Chuck Cofer, owner of Adams Avenue Bicycles. “Typically, our shop would have easily 100 plus bikes at any given time. That's been the normal situation for years, but as of the moment I probably have 15 bikes available for sale."
But there is one downside to the sales surge.
Due to the current international bike shortage, Cofer says he doesn't expect his shop will be able to order new bikes until sometime next year.
Cofer a 27-year veteran of the bike business says he's never seen anything like it. Still, he says he's excited to see the bike community grow.
