KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — One of Knoxville's most popular mobile businesses is parking its wheels and moving into a brick-and-mortar store.
"This is an old bank that we have repurposed into a coffee and flower shop for the community," said Savannah Pannell, owner of Flourish Flowers.
You may recognize her flower trucks, which pop up all across Knoxville, from food truck parks to inside West Town Mall.
"We had one truck our first year. Last year, we added a second truck. And then this year, we're at a store," she said.
Pannell has always loved flowers and is thrilled that Knoxville also likes the concept behind a build-your-own bouquet flower shop.
"Just creating an experience, which is what we want the shop to be about, too," said Pannell. "It's just very unique in the floral world."
She's had such success that the flowers now have a third permanent home in Cultivate Coffee and Flowers, a new business in an old bank building on Broadway in Fountain City.
The flower trucks aren't gone — they're just parked for the winter.
"We wanted a space that is warm inside in the winter for our employees to be able to continue working full time to provide jobs for them, and just be able to have the community have a place where they can still find us," said Pannell.
People can find them, get some flowers, and pick up a coffee from local shop Likewise Coffee, which now has a second location with Cultivate.
"[Flourish] just reached out to us in August and were like, 'Hey, this is something we're doing, and we really appreciate Likewise and your mission and you guys, and would you be interested in joining us?' So we said yes," said Likewise owner Katie Boggs.
Likewise is a service-minded coffee shop. Its original location on Magnolia Avenue opened in November 2020.
"Both coffee shops are owned by our nonprofit Raising a Voice, and so 100% of the money goes back into that nonprofit where we're working with women being exploited or trafficked or abused," said Boggs.
Cultivate's goal is to help with that mission, as well as serve as a meeting spot for people in Fountain City.
"We felt like there wasn't [really] anywhere to just bring a friend or come work on your laptop or whatever that may be," said Pannell. "So we just wanted to create a place where people could come hang out and know that it's kind of their local community spot."
The reaction has been pretty good, officials said. They processed 500 transactions on opening day.
"Everyone's just excitement and love for us has been truly encouraging, and we couldn't be doing it without them," said Pannell.
Cultivate is open 7 days a week at 5221 North Broadway in Fountain City.
Flourish will also have another permanent location in the old Kerns Bakery spot when it's redeveloped in South Knoxville.