A Little Piece of Eden
Flower Shop with Airbnb Launches
In Former Historic Wedgewood Inn
By Nancy Luse
Photography by Turner Photography Studio
The building at 5 W. 2nd St. has a storied past, at one point serving as the Wedgewood Inn, which once had a separate entrance so women could avoid traipsing through the tavern where a group of bar patrons known as the Dippy Social Club regularly assembled.
The building also once served as a green grocery and, from 1960 to the early 1990s, Maas Opticians stood out on the street with its unique slanted front window. Today, it’s home to Perennial Clay & Garden, creating a stir among local gardeners and those with cleaner fingernails who simply love flowers.
Owner Leigh Anne Thompson has been researching the building’s past, and felt an instant connection when she learned the grocery store had sold flowers grown on an area farm—a mirror of her own business model.
Thompson, along with husband Steven Glenn, own Glenn Leigh Farms near Braddock Heights, where, for the past four years, they’ve raised flowers for arrangements or pick-your-own, along with producing pork, chicken and eggs.
A succession of flower plantings happens every two weeks to supply blooms ranging from zinnias and snapdragons to dahlias and Black-Eyed Susans. The blossoms from the farm are available in the new store, along with flats of posies, herbs and vegetables for home gardens.
Thompson says her love of flowers comes from visits as a youngster to her great-aunt Rosalie’s home and gardens. “It was the most magnificent place,” she says, “And I would help.” Familial bonds are a big part of her business today.
“I have an amazing family,” Thompsons says of the support she receives not only from her husband—he’s the one who conquered the poison ivy growing in the store’s courtyard—but also brother, John Martin and mother, Robin Martin. Fourteen-year-old son Ocean also can be found helping on the farm.
Before the farm and the flower shop, Thompson created pottery she sold at various renaissance festivals. “Then I was over it,” she says. Friends have called her a “serial entrepreneur” and she smiles. “My favorite part of business is that I like starting stuff and once it’s functioning, I start looking for what else I can create.”
Just as the new shop piggybacks on the farm, another business has spun off from the store. The two upper floors have been renovated into a spacious Airbnb simply called the Wedgewood Inn as a tribute to its roots. While the Downtown place showcases antiques, another lodging spot they own in Ocean City is light and flowery and has the radio tuned to ’80s beach music when guests arrive. “I do things because I want a reason to decorate,” she says with a laugh.
That includes the shop where folks need to allow time to peruse all the nifty pots, planters, statuary and other garden art in the main room and scattered throughout the courtyard. A back room is where Thompson creates flower arrangements and wants to turn over to others for a “maker space.”
It’s a good guess that part of wanting a store in the city is because of the folks coming through the door. “I really like people, hearing their stories,” she says, and it wouldn’t be unusual for her to invite shoppers to have a seat on the terrace and chat, whether they buy a $2 packet of seeds or nothing at all.
So, what’s next for the woman who is always looking for new possibilities? “I’d love to renovate an historic home and property. Maybe I’ve watched too many European garden shows,” she says, thinking about a topiary garden as one of the features, but undoubtedly that’s just the start.