Ask a Shopkeeper: Care for the Kids

We spoke to Rebecca Carroll, proprietor of the Care for The Kids Boutique, about her on line store and the variety of baby related products they carry.

What inspired you to start your shop?
What started as an experiment has blossomed into a seriously viable business for me. I know this is going to sound cliché, but I really was inspired by a drive to create and control my own “destiny”. As a mother of three very young kids and with a deeply ingrained entrepreneurial spirit, staying at home and “crafting” all day was just about killing me. I started in direct sales years ago and found it to be easy and fun, but it allowed me absolutely no wiggle room for my own ideas and campaigns. I found a product line that was actually very similar to my direct sales product and got the hair brained idea that I could do this on my own. Two years later, there is virtually no trace of my original product on my website as I pretty much built my store in a very free-form manner. I started with items I knew I wanted, and then as I grew more experienced, started to add lines based upon what my target audience would want, whom I eventually defined as a mother or grandparent who had a flair for trends and style and is looking for unique, quality items.

How long have you been in business?
I have been in business for almost 2 years.

What categories do you cover?
I carry the Max Daniel Baby Collection, Kaiya Eve couture pettiskirts, Posh Baby, and some really fun new musical skirts by Acting Out that any daughter would just go ga-ga over. I also have a fabulous “gifts for mom” area on my site that lures some moms back for that unique Margaret Nicole wicker clutch, or one of my Little Earth recycled license plate purses. I offer moms a selection of environmentally conscious, but stylish and fun fashion accessories, as well as Artisan-created décor choices such as hand-tooled leather hope chests, wall clocks by famous designers such as Max Bill, and monogrammed gifts of all kinds.  My toy section has everything from Gigantic Giraffe Stuffed Animals to the Wolfgang Sirch Villa Sibi modernist Dollhouse, and the incredibly popular Sibi Olga contemporary child’s rocker made in Bavaria and part of the new trend towards Scandinavian-designed playrooms and toys. I don’t stick to one aesthetic either. I know plenty of style-snobs out there, and I am definitely not one of them. Every design approach has it’s own audience, and I truly do find contemporary as well as “boutique-ish” both to be really beautiful choices. But they are just that – choices and I want my customer to have plenty of those. Trying to fit into a niche would just totally spoil my whole creative process.

Who is your ideal customer?
My customer so far, has pretty much been the young mother shopping for her children or for baby gifts.

What are your top selling brands and products?
The Max Daniel baby blanket and Kaiya Eve couture pettiskirts.

What is the average price purchase?
It varies. Price has never been a deciding point in what I will choose to carry. You seriously can not pigeon hole great products into pre-determined price-points. My playroom and nursery furniture selection has prices ranging from a $150 Badger Basket Oval bassinet to a $3,900 Corsican Iron Crib.

What’s next for your store?
When it stops being fun, I will stop. Unless of course, I’m making too much money. Serious though, I do have a long term vision. I would love to be a catalog company offering high-end and specialty gifts/décor. I personally, am addicted to catalogs and I think I could bring a really great one to the audience. I am really excited to announce that I have just recently picked up the Tali Gilette line of fine family-themed jewelry and P’kolino Modern playroom furniture to my selections, and last but not least the wildly popular award-winning LIKEaBIKE (enjoyed by Cate Blanchett’s son)! Numbers indicate my desire for inclusion.

What products do you carry that celebrity babies and parents have/use? Can you tell us about any celebrity clients and what they have ordered?
I carry the Max Daniel Baby Collection — they make Violet Affleck’s favorite baby blanket — and Kaiya Eve couture pettiskirts — favored by Dakota Fanning, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Garner, Molly Shannon and more.

Favorite new items.
I now carry a large variety of the Max Daniel Baby Blankets (most $52), Elegant Baby Helicopter Bank ($26) and NFL Football Bling bags by Little Earth (from $25) as seen on Oprah.

Exclusively for CBB readers: Enter MAX1010 at the checkout to receive 10% off your order. Coupon valid through September.

Have you shopped at Care for the Kids Boutique? What do YOU think?

If you have any suggestions for shops we should profile, please email danielleATcelebrity-babies.com.