The women of Rooted bring plants, refills and eco-friendly gifts to the Atlantic corridor.
All it takes is one look into Rooted, a shop on Atlantic Avenue in Bixby Knolls, to be greeted by an abundance of green products.
The suspended plants and those nestled on the shelves create a small urban jungle. The plants, eco-friendly gifts, low waste goods and a refill station make up the store’s environmentally friendly offerings.
Rooted is made up of three women-owned businesses, Bring Your Own Long Beach (BYO), Plants by Yours Truly and Rivers + End.
The shop opened in March 2021 after Rivers + End owner Christy Pardini reached out to the two other businesses that had been part of her pop-ups in the past.
“Those are the two things that I was kind of in love with,” Pardini said of the plants and low waste products. “It just seemed to all kind of work together.”
Pardini had made a slew of eco-friendly changes at home during the pandemic that fueled her vision for Rooted. Lifestyle changes were the genesis of some of the businesses that make up the co-op.
Bring Your Own Long Beach
After adopting low waste practices soon after the 2016 election, BYO owner Julie Darrell started her own low-waste business in 2017 citing the difficulty of finding package-free soaps and body care.
“I felt like we had more responsibility as individuals to have an impact because we started to see cutbacks on environmental funding,” Darrell said. “I felt like I wanted to do something in my own neighborhood to make a change.”
A walk to the back of Rooted reveals BYO’s shelves filled with low-waste household and personal care goods.
A pot scrubber (made out of wood with vegan fibers) can be found alongside paperless towels and bee’s wrap—an eco-friendly alternative to plastic wrap.
It’s the product refill station however, that is BYO’s bread and butter.
With a push of a pump, patrons can refill their own containers with hand soaps, lotion, multi-purpose cleaner, shower gels and shampoos that mostly come from Californian wholesalers.
Julie Darrell, the owner of BYO Long Beach, demonstrates how customers can refill their reusable bottles of hand soap at Rooted in Bixby Knolls on Oct. 4, 2021. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
Some custom organic hand soap is available for purchase from BYO Long Beach at Rooted in Bixby Knolls on Oct. 4, 2021. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)
With locations in the Marina and Downtown Long Beach, Darrell’s goal in bringing BYO to Rooted was to reach the Bixby community.
Plants By Yours Truly
For Melissa Murillo, opening Plants by Yours Truly in Bixby Knolls was important due to her familial ties to the area.
It’s not just about selling plants for Murillo, it’s about the positive effect they’ve had on her mental health for years, something she wanted to share with the community.
“It’s not about the money,” she said. “It’s more about how you care for something and it loves you back.”
From zebra plants to the green and pink Aglaonema ‘Lady Valentine’, a plethora of plants fill the shop—all from local nurseries.
When customers come in, they look for the tropical monstera deliciosa, the shop’s most popular plant, Murillo said.
For inexperienced plant lovers, there’s a wide range of easy-care level plants to choose from. A section for people with more plant care experience is also available.
Murillo noted that Tuesday morning, a customer who had started with an easy-care level plant returned to buy a polka-dotted begonia maculata, whose care requires more effort.
“I’m here with you every step of the way,” Murillo told the customer. “If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.”
It’s what she says to all her customers, encouraging them to reach her on Instagram or via text for their plant needs.
“People text pictures of their plants at night like ‘oh my gosh is it dying?’ It’s a nice little community that I created with the customers,” Murillo said.
Rivers + End
While patrons look at plants, they may also notice a variety of eco-friendly gifts like plant holders made out of reclaimed wood and a display of vegan soap, sold by Rivers + End.
“A lot of our items are made locally so you’re not only supporting us, but you’re supporting probably a neighbor or another resident or somebody pretty close to it,” Pardini said.
For Pardini, Rooted works because it targets the same person, she said. Patrons can seamlessly look through items from all three businesses in one space.
“Everybody can like plants but not everybody’s passionate about living a sustainable life but they kind of go hand in hand, plants and sustainability,” Pardini said.
Pardini believes that once people are in the sustainability realm, they start to wonder about a product’s footprint, where it comes from and perhaps shopping small.
“I think that kind of gets ingrained in your community a little bit more once you start thinking about all those little facets,” she said.
From eco-friendly products to paperless receipts, Rooted strives to minimize environmental harm.
“We can’t all do everything,” Darrell said on her website. “But everyone can do something.”
Rooted is located at 3805 Atlantic Ave. in Bixby Knolls, open every day of the week through the holidays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
