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!

Thank You!

Thank you. Thank you. What else can we say? We are so grateful for everyone's continued support.

GROVE STREET kids on the Alist.

We're Movin' On Up... to the (North) East Side!

Some of you may remember, around this time last year, we had contemplated expanding into the empty space next door to us... Well, by now, you know that we did not. It was a long process: trying to come to terms with the landlords, secure the financing, and finding the help to do the work. After several months of negotiations, we just couldn't make all the ducks line up in a row.

But, I'm a believer that everything happens for a reason...

And, sho'nuff, an opportunity to expand has presented itself and we will be moving our location in July.

For months, I had been watching listings for commercial properties on line, waiting ever so patiently for the perfect spot to open up. At Christmas time, like a gift, "it" appeared on the site. With more than 6 months to go on my current lease, I had hopes that it would be available for a while, as most properties had (and have) been... So I put it on my "Watch List."

I was not optimistic that it would last, as it was too perfect. It was the right size space for the right price, and of course the ever-desirable... location, location, location. Our current locale has not been a bad one, for being in a residential area. And we provide a "service" as well as being retail, so the bulk of our business comes from being sought out on the internet. That said, if we were in a busier location, with more foot traffic, we would be busier. And more business is good! So, in February and unable to contain myself, I called Norheim & Yost to inquire about the space.

"Is it still available?"

"Yes, it is."

And like that the ball was rolling...

So here it is, April 1st, and I have just signed the lease for "1385 Shattuck Avenue, Suite A." This is not a joke! We will be moving the shop over the course of the next few months, as the moving and setting up of the new store will take place on evenings and weekends, outside of our current store hours! There will probably be a week or two between closing this shop and the opening of the new location. Our plan is to reopen on or within a few days of our 5 Year Anniversary of business, July 18.

As the word spreads, some customers have asked "Will you change the name? And the answer is "no." We feel we've established our "brand" well-enough and, our current location is on Martin Luther King Jr. Way anyway, so there's no need!

We're thrilled and excited about this opportunity, and we hope you are too! Stay tuned for more info, and if you haven't already, "Like" us on Facebook for the most up-to-date news on our progress in the move!