Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on Jan. 16, 2022, and has been updated.
Life is so much easier with subscriptions — especially when it comes to the goods and services we can’t live without. I love knowing I can enjoy the benefits of an Indy Maven membership, get unlimited spray tans, wash my car, listen to Spotify ad-free, and (shamelessly) reverse my accidental “swipe left” on Bumble anytime I want because I signed up for something one time and am automatically being charged.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m budget-conscious and know how to make sure I’m living within my means. Still, there are just some things in life I’d love to click “Finish & Pay” once and receive the perks on a regular cadence without thinking about it again (I have too much else to think about!). I mean, wouldn’t it be a dream come true to have a person show up at my door every two weeks to thread my eyebrows?!
While a traveling eyebrow-threading membership may not be on my radar quite yet, our team did find eight local businesses providing non-traditional subscription services that we think you’ll love — and maybe find you can’t live without:
1. MOTOR
If you’ve been part of the “Maven Movement” for a while, you know we love Motor Drive. This local electric car subscription rents out luxury electric vehicles on a monthly basis, allowing you to drive luxury in a cost-effective way, help the earth, and snag great parking spots.
2. FISHERS FLOWER FARM
Let me guess: You love the look of flowers in a vase on your kitchen table … but you tend to forget when they’re getting old … and you don’t really know where that rancid smell is coming from … and you don’t realize it’s because your flowers are dead until RIGHT AFTER you get home from your grocery trip. Luckily, there’s a perfect solution to this: a Fishers Flower Farm flower subscription! With options bundled by month, season, or year, these flowers will ensure your kitchen decor remains intact, and remind you to throw out old bouquets before that odor starts to spread.
3. Ash & Elm
Last year, I fell in love with Ash & Elm’s Autumn Tide hard cider when I serendipitously came across it at the grocery store. Soon after, I found out about the Ash & Elm Cider of the Month subscription, which provides four 4-packs of cider per quarter right to your doorstep (or if you’re local, you can save some $$$ and pick it up yourself), including both ciders of the month and seasonal ciders.
4. Indy Coffee Box
Okay, you know the age-old ethical dilemma about the conductor seeing a man on the train tracks and trying to decide between derailing the train to save his life or keeping the train on the tracks to save the lives of all the passengers? That’s an extreme version — yet same in principle — of how I feel choosing between making my coffee at home to save money and supporting the local coffee community, one of my favorite parts of Indianapolis.
So, imagine the relief I felt when I found out I can do both with this local Indy Coffee Box subscription. Each month, subscribers receive bags of coffee roasted by local roasteries, allowing them to support local businesses while saving the time and money spent grabbing a specialty latte every morning.
Sorry psych class, looks like there’s a third option: This conductor’s holding out her arm and pulling that man up on the train to come along for the ride. Choo-frickin’-choo.
RELATED: GIVE FOR GOOD WITH AN ALLTRUE BOX
5. built.IND
Obsessed with keeping Hoosier-owned organizations around and thriving? built.IND began their business by creating corporate and event gifting boxes with items made by Indiana creators like Just Pop In! and Metal Honey Foods, and they are expanding in the near future to include a subscription service option so you can get those same locally made products right to your door.
6. THE FOREST FLOWER
For those of us who have “budding” green thumbs but aspire to have our living spaces resemble those on The Sill, a local plant shop may be our genie in a bottle. The Forest Flower plant subscription lets you enjoy a subscription (offered in periods of 3 months) where you can slowly but surely create your indoor greenhouse. Just like lifting weights, getting the hang of consistency before adding extra plates (or, pots?) will help you achieve the long-term results you desire.
7. Macs. Well.
So, I say I’m not high maintenance, but I will admit in high school I asked for macarons delivered from Paris one Christmas. In my defense, I was under the influence of an enormous Blair Waldorf obsession. I just wanted to eat them in the bathtub and feel powerful.
The Macs. Well. macaron subscription offers the chance to live out these fantasies and feel even more powerful because A) subscribers support a local, female-owned business, and B) the macarons come every month and without the delay or costs of international shipping. Also, word has it that the company will soon be offering croissants, croissant cereal, and travel cakes as well.
8. The Vault
As a sucker for both Indianapolis history and live music, and I am obsessed with The Vogue’s new subscription service — titled “The Vault” — that releases t-shirts each month celebrating some of the most iconic performances in the venue’s history. Subscribers can sign up to be members of The Vault and automatically receive a new t-shirt each month or purchase shirts as they’re released.
If the “cool” factor wasn’t enough, subscriptions from all of these businesses support the Indianapolis community, and almost all of these organizations are female-owned or co-owned. Though these eight subscriptions may not be the first we think of when it comes to regular recurring gifts, they each have their own way of making life more interesting and every day a little richer. We could all use some of that.
Kylie Stine loves all things local (and surprising herself with gifts on a regular basis).
All of our content—including this article—is completely free. However, we’d love if you would please consider supporting our journalism with an Indy Maven membership.
