# Retail & Restaurants

> Plantings that make people slow down, come in and come back: entrances, patios and storefront containers for shops, cafés and restaurants.

**Summary:** Plantings that make people slow down, come in and come back: entrances, patios and storefront containers for shops, cafés and restaurants.

![A new planting bed with mulch and young perennials beside a commercial building's sign](https://healingearthdesignbysarah.com/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6NDIzLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--bc3cb2529d77df4b8d9fd40012d6d65d14059095/IMG_2107.webp)

## Shoppers say they'll pay more where the street is green.

**Intro:** A storefront has a few seconds to say "come in". Full planters by the door, a patio edged in flowers and beds that look cared for tell people the business inside is cared for too. Research on business districts found shoppers would travel farther, stay longer, come more often and pay more where there's greenery. Your sidewalk and entrance are where that starts.

- First impressions at the door — Containers and entry beds frame the door and pull the eye from the street, from the parking lot and from across the road.
- Patios people want to sit on — Planting that softens a patio and screens the parking lot makes outdoor seating feel like a place, not a sidewalk.
- Something new every season — Seasonal displays give regulars something new to notice and give you photos for your own posts.
- Less upkeep than lawn — Turning patchy turf into planted beds cuts mowing and gives a better look for the same care budget.

- 9–12% — more that shoppers said they'd pay for goods in business districts with trees and landscaping: 9% in small cities, 12% in large ones. — <https://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2005_wolf001.pdf>
- More visits — Shoppers shown greener districts said they'd travel farther, stay longer and come more often. — <https://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2005_wolf001.pdf>
- $3,950–$4,683 — saved per acre each year, on average over ten years, by native plantings over mown turf. — <https://www.auburnhills.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Changing-Cost-Perceptions.pdf>

**What we'd plant:** - Seasonal containers and window boxes by the entrance
- Planted edges and screening around patios and outdoor seating
- Pollinator beds in place of strips of struggling lawn
- Parking-lot islands planted with tough natives
- Holiday and winter entry displays

**Calculator: label for that figure:** Annual sales

**Calculator: uplift, low (%):** 0.25

**Calculator: uplift, high (%):** 1

**Calculator: where the uplift comes from:** Uplift of 0.25% to 1% of annual sales. Wolf (2005) found shoppers said they'd pay 9–12% more in green business districts, but that's what they said, not what they spent, and it measures whole streets of trees. A single storefront's plantings are a much smaller change, so we use a fraction of the small-city figure.

**Planner choice:** Retail, restaurant or café

- Will plantings really bring in more customers? — No planting guarantees sales. What the research shows is that people say they'd visit more often, stay longer and pay more where a business district is green and cared for. Entrances and patios are where your customers notice it most.
- Can you keep containers looking good all year? — Yes. A seasonal display program replants your containers for spring, summer, fall and the holidays, so the entrance never sits empty.
- Do you build patios, walls or walkways? — No. Everything we do is plants: design, soil, planting, mulch and care. If your project needs hardscape, we can plan the planting around it and work alongside your contractor.

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Source: https://healingearthdesignbysarah.com/industries/retail-restaurants
Updated: 2026-10-12