Meet Annette Gutierrez | Business Owner & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Annette Gutierrez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Annette, how do you think about risk?
I think risk taking is essential to living…but I grew up in an immigrant family who had to risk literally everything they had in order to come to this country so maybe that’s why I don’t fear it. When I was much younger my parents wanted to help me buy my first house but I was afraid. “What are you afraid of?” my father asked. “Losing my house,” I replied. And then he laughed and said, “Do you have a house now?” No, I didn’t. “Well then why are you afraid of losing it?” And something about the absurdity of my fear suddenly made sense. I knew I didn’t want “what ifs” running my life. When my business partner, Mary Gray, and I started our business neither of us had the slightest idea of what we were doing. Neither of us had ever even worked in a retail store before. But when the opportunity arose to buy a run-down pottery store we freaked out for about 10 minutes with all the “what ifs” that could possibly go wrong and then we put on our big-girl pants and said we’re doing this in spite of our fears.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We started Potted before outdoor living was even a thing because we wanted to be able to shop for our outdoor spaces with the same style that could be found in stores catering to interiors. Rather than being a garden center that showed you 10 watering cans, 12 hand trowels and umpteen planters, we wanted to curate the best watering can and the best hand trowels and the best planters plus the shirt you could wear while hanging out by the pool and the cool chair you could sit in. We wanted to be an Outdoor Living experience. I think that’s what we are most proud of…when someone comes into Potted they just go, “Wow…I want to live here.”

Getting to be a lifestyle brand was not easy…mainly because we had no idea what we were doing and we didn’t have a clear direction at first. We had taken over an old pottery store and at first we were consumed with just cleaning it up. But being a former screenwriter, the most valuable thing I took away from that experience was in order to have a successful screenplay you needed to have a clear premise…an idea that rang like a bell from beginning to end. When someone saw your movie they should know what it was about. So we took this idea and applied it to our new business. And it really helped. It helped us edit ourselves when we were buying inventory. It helped us with creating new products. It helped us set expectations with our customers. We were not trying to be everything to everyone. We just wanted to be the best at what we did…helping our customers make their garden beautiful and unique with our own curated style.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Wow, Los Angeles is such an amazing city that a week would never been enough but my highlighted tour would probably go something like this:

1. Hike to the top of Mt. Hollywood. First pack a lunch from Dune in Atwater Village then park at the Observatory to see where they filmed Rebel Without a Cause and LaLaLand. Then get hiking. The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking and gives you a real perspective of the whole area. And it’s a great view of the Hollywood sign.
2. For dinners my favorite places are Little Dom’s, Cafe Stella, Kismet, Cafe Birdie, The Kitchen Factory. There are tons more but these are my tried and true.
3. I love Disney Concert Hall and The Broad and no trip downtown should miss Grand Central Market. I once did a guided eating tour of the market that was so much fun.
4. Since it’s LA, everyone wants to go to the beach (although I rarely do) but when I do, I love going to Venice beach. LOVE to eat at Gjelina or The Rose Cafe and one of the funnest things to do is walk along the canals and peep into everyone’s yards.
5. Malibu is also a must if only for the drive up Highway 1. I usually go to Paradise Cove. You have to pay for parking, but it’s quieter and they have a good cafe. Also the Fish place on County Line is amazing and a fun place to take out-of-towners.
6. The Huntington Gardens are always on my list of must-see places. Even if you’ve been there dozens of times, the gardens never look the same. They are always evolving and amazing me. They also have a decent cafe and you can literally spend an entire day there.
7. If I have guests during the holiday season, I definitely take them to the Lighted Garden Show at the Descanso in La Canada. It’s really something else…sort of a cross between Lazarium and a Disney movie.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would definitely want to give a Shout Out to my business partner, Mary Gray. If she hadn’t jumped into the deep end with me all those years ago, I don’t know how far our business would have gone.

Website: www.pottedstore.com

Instagram: @pottedstore

Linkedin: Annette Gutierrez

Twitter: Pottedstore

Facebook: PottedLA

Yelp: Potted