The Sill Closes Its last Retail Store, Going Fully Online

Style|As Plant Sales Move Online, the Sill Closes Its Last Retail Store

A decade ago, house plants were so popular among millennials that many would refer to themselves as plant moms or dads, devoting social media accounts to their plants and promoting it as a lifestyle. It was a time when trendy stores dedicated to plants made perfect sense.

The way people purchase plants has been changing, however, and companies are shifting to accommodate Gen Z. That was made clear on Tuesday when the Sill, a popular chain that once had storefronts in several major cities, permanently closed its last retail location, which was in Brooklyn. Eliza Blank, the founder of the Sill, said the company would transition its entire business into being an online garden center.

“I often explain to people that the business is like a reflection of my life,” Ms. Blank said in a video interview. “I started the company as a houseplant business for young, urban city people because that’s who I was. I lived in a teeny, tiny apartment, a six-floor walk up, and my windows faced a brick wall. I just wanted houseplants and I didn’t know anything about the right plants that would thrive in a New York City apartment. So the Sill was born out of that in 2012.”

Twelve years later, she said, “I’m not 26 years old anymore. I left the city, actually. I have two kids. I live in a house in the Catskills. I garden!”

With the closure of the company’s last physical store, the Sill’s online offerings will be refined, matching the kind of things Ms. Blank is shopping for on her own: Perennials, bulbs, apple trees and privacy hedges.

“We’re expanding our horizons and hopefully the houseplant was sort of the gateway to the garden,” she said.