On the list of nice thing about children: those in the business of children’s products find their industry practically recession-proof.
“If they have to pinch somewhere, people will still spend money on clothes for their kids,” said Ashley Salas, the owner of Sugar Babies, a purveyor of children’s products.
Sugar Babies sells clothes, toys and room decorations for mothers and young children. The business includes a retail store in downtown Sumner and an online store. Sugar Babies was recently awarded “Best Children’s Clothing Store” in the KING 5 “Evening Magazine” Best of Western Washington 2009 feature.
Salas plans to move to a new location once she finds a large enough retail space, she said. The new store would preferably have enough sales floor space for Salas to expand the children’s play area and introduce furniture like cribs, dressers, rockers and bedding. Currently, the sales floor is 1,800-square feet.
Sugar Babies has been in its present location on Main Street for more than four years.
“I view this Main Street store like a starter home,” Salas said. “It works well, but maybe the air conditioning doesn’t work so well, or there’s some other minor thing you would like to improve. I’m just ready to take the next step in growing the business.”
Plans to move in the near future were temporarily put on hold by complications with a chosen location. When the store does move, an advantage will be the fact that most of the inventory is in off-site storage, rather than stocked at the retail shop.
Salas will notify customers about the move through word-of-mouth and messages on her company e-mail list and social networking pages. Her goal is to keep the time that the retail store is closed to an absolute minimum.
One of the shop’s most popular lines of products right now is baby clothing designed in a “rock star” theme, including either music-inspired artwork or witty logos. One maternity T-shirt features the motto “Rock the Bump” across the front.
Salas uses several local product suppliers to stock her shelves. She buys baby blankets and onesies from the Tyler & Me boutique in Puyallup. The Prissy Piggies line of knits and the Dew Drops baby headbands come from mothers in Tacoma and Puyallup, respectively. In addition, the modeled photos of products on the store Web site are taken by local photographer Stacy Jacobsen.
