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SheyWest: More Than Just a Garden Center

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Meet Jodi Kallais, Co-Owner of West Fargo’s Beautiful SheyWest Garden Center.

Jodi Kallais’ love for plants and landscaping stemmed from her childhood (pun intended), where her parents owned a landscaping company in maintaining large, beautiful estates in Minnesota. Jodi later moved to Fargo from the Cities area to study Architecture at NDSU. While in college, Jodi met her husband Brett when she began working for his contracting business. Jodi went on to complete her Master’s Degree in Architecture, and in 2020, SheyWest Garden Center was born. The original vision for Brett and Jodi was to be a landscaping contractor, but the property allowed space for holding plants for customers during projects, so naturally, over time a garden center was born.

A Beautiful Beginning

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When Businesses were Closing in 2020, SheyWest was Just Beginning to Blossom.

“Starting [SheyWest] was a little bit of an adventure,” said Jodi, who priorly had no experience in owning a retail store. “So, for me, SheyWest has always been a little bit of a heart project.” For the last several years, Jodi has been collecting and bargaining little tables and other little pieces of furniture they could retrofit for their market shop. “This is sort of been what I call a beautiful beginning— which has been our little tagline for a lot of things,” said Jodi. “Because we want a beautiful beginning for the relationships with our customers.”

For Jodi, it was a fun adventure to open SheyWest during the pandemic because it was a time when things were shutting down, yet SheyWest was just beginning to bloom from nothing. It’s a concept that has inspired SheyWest to grow into what it is today, and what it is continuing to develop into—a community.

Once Renovated Home, Now a Plant Shop

Today, SheyWest offers a large variety of houseplants in the main retail shop, stemming from large floor plants to small succulents to hanging plants and even air plants. The retail shop also features a farm-themed play area for kids while parents shop around. Prior to being renovated into a retail shop, the building was originally a home with an attached garage. The retail shop also features a wide variety of home decor and boutique items.

The SheyWest Market is where customers can find the repurposed furniture and other home-themed decor, as well as home goods and snacky items. Additionally, they also provide landscaping services and materials, as well as offer full-service installation through SheyWest’s sister company called Accelerated Greenworks.

An Event For Every Season

SheyWest offers two really fun events throughout the year. The first is the annual apple smash during the fall where people can come and smash apples through a cedar press and make cider and apple donuts, walk around and enjoy the autumn weather. Another event is the annual pumpkin patch, which people of all ages have enjoyed. With all of the variety of offerings, shopping and browsing experiences, Jodi thinks of SheyWest gardens more as a campus of community fun rather than just a garden center.

Come summertime, SheyWest plans to bring in all types of vendors to their campus, like a snow-cone vendor, for example, that bikers and people can stop and enjoy throughout their day. “The idea is a snack shack concept for people to come in for a pit stop, stop and smell the flowers,” said Jodi.

SheyWest offers acoustic nights during the summer, where local artists and bands can come play on weekends. If you’re interested in playing contact the SheyWest office at 701.929.5643

Written by Josiah Kopp

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