Bowood Farms — Attraction in St. Louis

Pros: Beautiful, spacious store and whatever nursery they buy from has beautiful, healthy plants. (No bugs or disease)

Cons: Came in to make a big plant purchase, and I started outside. The lady working outside was watering, so I understand she was busy. I had a few questions so I asked how her day was, she said fine with no eye contact and wandered off. Hm, maybe she’s busy or isn’t part of their customer service dept. I grab a few tropicals anyways and head inside.

I wasn’t greeted, so I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to be inside because their cafe was closed, but I wandered on anyways. I find a HUGE fiddle leaf and I’m in love. Still, I stalk around to check out the plugs before deciding if this big baby is meant to be mine. The first guy (with beautiful eyes) I walked up to almost ran off from me when I had a question. I go up to the second guy (with my mask on) and ask if he could help - He said he was busy taking pictures of the plants and to ask the other floor help. I’m frustrated at this point. I’m just tryna enjoy my plants too y’all. As i go back up to the first guy, the one taking pictures yells across the store - Ma’am, did you bring a mask in, please put it on (mind you it’s on my face).

Last ditch effort - I ask the guy how much the fiddle leaf is and he says $400 ($200 less than what I thought I was gonna pay) and I’m excited. I ask how we get it safely in the car and guy two says “Burlap.” And walks away.

I set down my tropicals and plugs and leave. Rude, no help, and no interest in selling plants. (Still haven’t found a fiddle leaf fig as beautiful as theirs though.)

BUT! Not for naught, I went to Bayer’s plant nursery about 15 minutes away and found all the tropicals I wanted at Bowood and spend around $200. They were bigger and healthier AND for half the price, and I got to take home more than I would have if I had stayed and...

Dined on April 4th. I enjoyed the decor and ambiance of Bowood. The windows are beautiful and the attached plant nursery and farm across the street make this a very unique location in STL. The dinner service, quality of the food, and the drinks were all above average. I had high expectations as it is owned by Niche and my expectations were mostly met. The staff were very polite and attentive. However, the waiter we had might have been training and he was not as knowledgeable about the wine list as he should have been. He could not make a recommendation for wine with my meal & he seemed nervous because of it. Also, when I asked about Bowood Farm and the sourcing of different ingredients he was not able to speak about it much. He did say in general Bowood sources as much as they can from their farm and try to keep any outsourcing of other ingredients local. I think maybe a little more training for new waiters/waitresses will help. The waiters at Brasserie are always so knowledgeable it was a bit off that it was not the same at Bowood. I will definitely be returning soon and was happy with the...

Honestly, they have a nice selection of flowers but that don’t equal to the amount of stares I received. I’m black and it was my first time visiting their business. When I went to the outside portion the guy barely acted like he wanted to help. Then I was standing in line it was two cashiers. Both females. One was an older while lady and one black female. The white lady started taking her time ringing her customers out when she seen me in line. So I started recording her, she suddenly rung them out fast. Funny. Then some older white guy walked her to register and she was about to ring them out. At that moment I had enough. I walked to her register and asked her “Wasn’t I in line? You didn’t see me?” She didn’t say nothing but “I got this and started ringing me out.” Then the black cashier said “yes she was in line first.” You don’t treat people differently because of their skin color. Also, you guys honestly don’t know me or my family. I could have this place shut down in 2.5 seconds. Learn how to...