Tri-State woman leaves corporate job to open Westwood plant store

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A plant shop in Westwood is celebrating its first year being open.

Jackie Frondorf was working in a law firm and a hospital for several years before taking some time off to help raise her five children.

Recently, she decided to get back to work but wanted to do something a bit different. That is when she had the vision to open her own plant shop.

One step inside Frond on Harrison Avenue and you are transported to another place.

“I want them to feel like they’re walking into a jungle,” said Frondorf. “A living space. A living breathing space. You know I’ve never met a person that plants didn’t make them happy. So, when you walk into Frond, I just want you to feel an overwhelming feeling of calm and happiness and life and energy.”

From a Ficus to a snake and a Swiss cheese plant, you can find it all at Frond, including the more exotic greenery like a pothos or Apo.

Frondorf says she’s been caring for plants since she was a little girl.

“I grew up with a mother and a grandmother who loved plants and were really good at taking care of them, so I learned to take care of plants,” she explained. “That was part of my childhood, the care and the maintenance that my mother and grandmother had.”

At first, it was just a hobby as she went to college and graduated with a business and economics degree working several years at a law firm.

After taking several years off to be with her five children, she reconnected with her roots by tapping into her passion for plants and decided to open Frond in Westwood, which she and her family call home.

“Having people walk through the doors and say oh my gosh I can’t believe we have this here,” she says. “This is so incredible. That warms my heart because that’s exactly what I wanted to bring into the neighborhood. It’s the joy I wanted them to see.”

Over the past year, Frond has already evolved from just selling plants. Her husband also got involved by making one-of-a-kind clay pots.

Frondorf also sells her homemade jewelry.

Frondorf says stepping away from the corporate world didn’t come without some challenges, including renovating the space the shop is currently in.

Now that she made over this space making the gem it is today, she’s now enjoying the process of helping the Tri-State make their homes beautiful as well.

”Being able to express myself through the plants, which is what I do,” she says. “My husband expresses himself through the pots and when we put them together it’s a beautiful package of here’s what we created take it home enjoy it really it’s changed me to be able to give people something that is living full of life an energy and knowing that that’s being spread all over the neighborhood I love that.”

Frondorf says one of her main goals when opening the store was to keep the prices affordable. You can get a plant starting as low as just $5.

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