Rewind to Roots: How Ken Shelf Turned a Video Store into a Plant Empire
Succulence founder Ken Shelf has spent 27 years putting down roots in Bernal Heights, first with Four Star Video, then with plants, and now with moss walls and art workshops that travel the Bay Area.
Ken Shelf didn’t plan to become a plant person. When he and his wife Amy moved to Bernal Heights in May 1999, he was drawn in by the hill itself, whose broad city views felt majestic and magnetic, as well as the neighborhood’s small-town feel, the same qualities that had brought Amy here six years earlier. Bernal Heights has a way of becoming permanent, and for the Shelves, it did. Their kids were born and raised here, they built a business here, and found that the hill has always been the kind of place where families put down roots and stay.
What Ken couldn’t have predicted was that a video store, a Craigslist listing, and a neighbor’s offhand suggestion would set them on a path to building one of the most distinctive small businesses the neighborhood has seen.
Four Star Video had been a Bernal Heights fixture since 1986.
By the time it landed on Craigslist in 2006, a one-day-only posting from the family of the late owner, David Ayoob, Amy spotted it and forwarded it to Ken immediately. They took over the store in early 2007, running it with a subscription model called KenFlix: no late fees, roughly 250 neighborhood members, and the kind of low-key warmth that kept people coming back even as streaming began to eat the industry alive.
It initially seemed like a crazy idea, but eventually we went for it. — Ken Shelf, on the suggestion to start selling plants inside a video store
The turning point came from a neighbor. Darcy Lee, the owner of Heartfelt, suggested that Ken and Amy explore selling plants. After a few years of ramping up, they moved Succulence from the video store’s back garden into the shop itself in January of 2011. The plants quietly took over. By the time Four Star closed after 5.5 years of the Shelves stewardship, three of which overlapped with the growing plant operation, Succulence had a life of its own.
What followed was a decade-plus of iteration. Succulence expanded into landscaping, weddings, and events, finding its footing as a community-oriented business that could flex into nearly any setting. Ken’s two children grew up in the shop, eventually working alongside Ken, a reminder that in Bernal Heights, family life and neighborhood life have always had a way of blending together.
A timeline
1986: Four Star Video opens on Cortland, founded by Mario and Karen.
1999: Ken and Amy move to Bernal Heights. Rick purchases Four Star Video.
2001: David Ayoob takes ownership of Four Star Video.
2007: Ken and Amy purchase Four Star Video after David’s passing, launching KenFlix.
2010: On Ken and Amy’s 15th anniversary, they decide to move Succulence inside to share the space with Four Star Video.
2011: Succulence begins offering workshops and classes.
2012: Four Star Video closes, and Succulence takes over the entire store.
Today: Succulence runs plant art workshops and custom moss wall installations for corporate and private clients.
Today, Succulence operates primarily as an events company. Ken has been running workshops for 15 years, hosting groups of 8 to 600-plus people, with a sweet spot of 20 to 100 participants. The workshops center on plant art, hands-on, tactile, and social in a way that feels like a natural extension of what Four Star once offered the neighborhood. These experiences are available onsite at people’s homes or offices, or in spaces around Bernal that Ken rents when groups want to come to him.
The business also produces custom moss wall installations for both corporate and private clients. These pieces, crafted from preserved natural materials, are perfect for indoor spaces and require neither water nor lighting.
Outside the business, Ken pursues music and writing. He describes Bernal Heights as the same wonderful, community-centric neighborhood that drew his family here in the first place, and he is grateful to still have the opportunity to continue to work with his neighbors. Succulence’s workshops can be found at thesucculence.com.
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Mike Doherty serves as Chief Experience Officer at Greening Projects, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming underutilized urban spaces into vibrant green areas
