The owner of The Other Curator at Norwich Market is hoping for a spike in trade after inviting another local business to sell cacti on her stall.
Caryn Louis, 65, first opened at the market in summer 2017 as a pop-up after outgrowing her shop in the front room of her New Buckenham cottage where she had sold local art, jewellery and bohemian clothes to people in the village.
In autumn of the same year she took on the neighbouring stall permanently and a year ago she added The Retro Room, which is devoted to vintage-style new clothes.
Her latest idea to help the business grow was to ask her friend Tony Hall, affectionately known as Mr Prickly, to join her at The Other Curator selling his cacti, succulents and indoor gardens, which he sold at a pop-up stall last summer.
Mr Hall, aged 64, was born in Norwich and moved back to the city six years ago after spending 30 years travelling around the world as a private chef for royalty and celebrities, including Queen's drummer Roger Taylor.
His love of presentation in his food inspired him to start the business and he travels around Norfolk finding interesting containers and materials to design his mini gardens and his plants are all sourced locally.
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When he finished his pop-up, he was invited to become a permanent fixture at the market but he couldn't commit to it full time, as he still works as a private chef, so jumped at the chance to work alongside Ms Louis.
Mr Hall said: 'Now I'm at the Other Curator, I am encouraging customers to bring me an interesting container they like and I would love to fill it.
Speaking about working with Mr Taylor, he added: 'Obviously Roger had massive gardens and I grew my own herbs and vegetables - he is a bit of a country gentleman.'
Ms Louis is feeling positive about the collaboration and couldn't imagine being anywhere else but Norwich Market.
She said: 'Tony had been talking about doing car boot sales and I thought I'd do a little bartering with him and said if he did two days a week then I could find some space for his plants and he thought it was a great idea.
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'We're all one big family at the market and it is important to find ways of cooperating and supporting each other and I think it is a really interesting addition to the stall and I'm feeling really optimistic about the future.'
'I couldn't work in a shop as I'd be bored out of my mind, there is so many characters and it is a colourful place to be.'
Asked if she is worried about the cacti ripping the clothes, she replied ' No, he'd be in big trouble if he did.'
Mrs Louis is also reopening a shop at her cottage in King Street in New Buckenham, which will sell clothes, jewellery and shoes alongside Mr Hall's cacti creations, and it will be open on Saturdays from 11am to 5pm from April 11 and on the launch weekend it will also be open on the Sunday and Monday.
The Other Curator is open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 5pm at stalls 138 and 139 at the top of the market.
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