Thursday, July 26, 2012

We're Open! (finally... whew!)

Well, they say Rome wasn't built in a day!

But I didn't honestly think it would take 4 months to get the shop together, either. Ah well...

Three months did seem like it would be adequate enough time to get the shop prepared for the move of our inventory. Yet, considering it was mostly nights and weekends, and still trying to have some semblance of a normal life, ie. soccer games, household chores and bills still needing tending, that sort of thing... 12 weeks flew by in a hurry. And we certainly underestimated the intensity of the actual moving out of our old location. That took much longer than anticipated... we closed for business on the 22nd of June and were there, literally til the night of the 30th finishing the clean out.

Then boom, life has a way of throwing a curve ball or two when you least expect it, and my daughter came down with a horrible fever, temps ranging from 103° to 105° that lasted almost a week! A scary, scary time for all of us, and they never did find the cause of it. Thankfully, my "happy helper" is back to herself and excited, like the rest of us, for the store opening.

Other factors in creating a delay more related to the shop, include us trying to enter the 21st century by buying a computer and entering inventory into a consignment program. The task has proven to be more than challenging since we not only consign items, we buy the bulk of our inventory straight out... which means we have to enter our ENTIRE inventory... so we decided to keep our old system in place until we can get all of the items in. We hope you will bear with us!

One of our biggest challenges has been figuring out how to display the windows. One wouldn't think it would be so hard when one full wall is window after window! But unlike our old shop, there was no definition of space between the sales floor and the display mannequins. And we feel we have a bit of a reputation to live up to so, even though we love the new space, it has proven to be somewhat of a challenge. So we had to create it. And we hope you like it.

In the end, the store is not 100% ready. We are still missing most of the signage that we need in and around the store. Not everything is tagged. There's some trim that hasn't been placed yet. Details, details...

But we felt we could add those things as we move along. So here we are.
Finally, open!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

From Here to Maternity!

It's official! We've moved out of our location at 1644 MLK Jr Way and are all moved in to 1385 Shattuck Avenue... But the place is a mess! And so it will be a couple of weeks before we are able to reopen. Stay tuned for the exact re-opening date... Meanwhile, some of our customers have been asking "Why are you moving?" or "Is it a bigger space?" And the short answer is, "Yes and that's why!" For months previous to our even thinking about expanding or moving, we had been turning lots of folks away... either because we didn't have what they wanted to buy, or the room to take what they wanted to sell, ie kids' gear and a larger selection
of maternity.

So in our new shop, that's what you will find, more strollers, pack 'n' plays, etc. as well as an even bigger and better selection of maternity wear for all sizes! And, the best part? We now have, not one, but two dressing rooms! We know there will be some folks who will be disappointed to learn that we will no longer be accepting size 10 for kids. :( I know, I know, as I have a 10 year old myself, this is hugely disappointing! But we really need to make more room for the things that sell, that are in demand, and phase out the things that don't and aren't.

Nevertheless, we hope you all will be pleased! It is a bigger and much brighter store... and some of our trademarks will still be present: our play area, our tree and our windows! We've gotten so many compliments on our window displays over the years that we know we must keep up that tradition! 1385 Shattuck is almost ALL windows on on two sides of the store, so we are trying to figure out how to maintain that part of our shop without compromising space and keeping it safe in the environment, particularly for our littlest shoppers. So, sit tight! It won't be long now... just a couple of more weeks, til you will see those pictures of our windows on our (also new, and updated!) website, and Facebook page! Thanks, as always for your continued support!