Happy New Year

Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right. ~Oprah Winfrey

We could not have said it better ourselves! 2012 brought about a lot of change for us at GROVE STREET kids – new location, new hours, new systems. But some of those changes won't stay, as we figure out what worked best for us and where we still need to make improvements to better serve our customers in 2013!

When we moved to Shattuck Avenue, we extended our business hours on Wednesday and Thursday to coincide with Off The Grid and the North Berkeley Farmers' Market, respectively. The city of Berkeley decided not to renew their contract with the Off The Grid powers that be and will be our neighbor no more. So with that, when we reopen on the 8th, we will go back to closing at 6 pm on Wednesdays, (and possibly Thursdays, at least during the winter).

One of our biggest changes for 2013 will be converting our entire inventory to a computerized system. This has been and, continues to be, a daunting task but we hope that you will find it makes our system more streamlined between our resale, consignment and vendor inventory, not to mention keeping track of everyone's trade balances and purchases! But it is a process, and we are still learning as well, so we hope you will bear with us through this change and opportunity to get it right!

For more updates or just to be reminded of what's happening over at the shop, be sure to visit our website, "like us" on Facebook or follow us on Instagram!

So, with that, we hoped you enjoyed your holidays, and appreciate your patience while we were closed to do the aforementioned inventory and to spend time with our families. GROVE STREET kids looks forward to seeing you in 2013!

Like... Totally Awesome!

Red Tricycle's 2012 Totally Awesome Awards... that is!

We are so excited to announce that GROVE STREET kids is a finalist in the Most Sensational Resale Stores category in Red Tricycle's 2012 Totally Awesome Awards again. Woo Hoo! The voting runs through the end of November, and we hope you will take a moment to show your support (again!) for us.

Winners will be announced on December 7th...

So, if you love GROVE STREET kids, we need your votes! To thank you in advance for your support, we would like to offer a giveaway to one lucky voter, a $25 Gift Certificate!

Here’s how to enter, it’s simple! Click here to go to the voting page. Vote for GROVE STREET kids and then send us an email at info@grovestreetkids.com letting us know that you voted! Enter to win with as many email addresses as you have! We will randomly choose the winner and email you back on Tuesday, December 3rd! The winner will also be announced on our Facebook page - so don't forget to "like" us if you haven't already!

And be sure to tell your friends! Good luck and thanks for voting!

Sunday Streets is Coming to Town!

There's been a lot of talk about something called "Sunday Streets" coming to our city of Berkeley. Read about the build-up here. The North Shattuck Association used to have an annual event called the Spice of Life Festival but, this year, the success of Sunday Streets around the country, in particular, in our neighboring city of San Francisco, has given our own reason to pause, and invest, in a different kind of festival.

With no outside vendors, Sunday Streets Berkeley will be a celebration of local businesses and organizations, along the 20-block route. Storefronts will be unobstructed, and business owners will be encouraged to promote commerce and visibility by setting out tables and chairs, hosting activities, and otherwise inviting interest and community.

While not normally open for business on Sundays, how could we not support this fantastic celebration of community? It's sure to be an amazing event. So with that GROVE STREET kids will open it's doors at 11am as well, so we hope you will stop by and say "hello."

let's all celebrate and have a good time!

Please join us for our Grand Re-Opening Event!

Where: Our new locale! 1385 Shattuck Avenue at Rose Street

map

When: Saturday, September 15th, 11 am to 5 pm
Special appearance by Oliver Twist from 12 noon to 3 pm!

What: Raffles, prizes, balloons, face-painting, fun!
The first 25 customers will receive goody bags with... goodies inside!

Hope to see you there!

First up.... Back to School!

So, GROVE STREET kids has been re-opened for about a month now, and we are fully back into the swing of things! People are cleaning out their (kids') closets and bringing in their items for resale!

So we are more than ready for "Back to School" and we want to give a shout out to our friends at {510} Families for giving us a shout on their blog entitled Back-to-School Checklist! Despite Heather's "cleaning out of size 5/6 pants" we still have plenty of things to choose from and are getting more in every day!

Be sure and check our website, grovestreetkids.com for more information, including our new and expanded business hours for your shopping convenience!





photo courtesy rookiemom heather of {510} Families

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!

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!