How do we make good use of our showroom?

2010-05-11T04:38:00.000-07:00

Our 8,500 sq ft showroom has evolved over the years! We started out by showcasing lots of vendors and had products in every single imaginable baby category. What I found out was that we were loosing our identity. In the retail market, out store is categorized as a "specialty retail store". But I felt that our store was just not doing its category justice. Not every baby product imaginable that we had was "special" or "unique". It certainly took us a while but I was ready to listen to each one of my staff members, my husband and certainly myself.

And, then we got ready to work! We started out by removing our category labels in our sections. We used to display categories such as "Feeding", "Pads", "Toys", "Mix and Match", "Bedding" and others. We all had come to be attracted to specific brands that we believed in, and because of that all of us became very good at demonstrating them. So, we decided why not feature these specific brands somehow? That's where we all put our heads together and started brainstorming about how to define our sections. We started out by selecting the first brands that we knew we loved but that also offered a variety of products to ensure that we had enough of these great products to display for that specific manufacturer. The choice was easier than I thought. We started with KidCo, Bambino Mio, Baby Bjorn, Green Sprouts and Skip Hop. I then took a box from each one of the products and went to Home Depot (right across the parking lot from us) and had them match the color of each of the brands' box. Since we were no longer displaying categories, we had to make the space stand out and we decided to pick the most prominent color of each of these brands and paint the side walls this particular color. Well, the results were very much what I was looking for! Not to mention, all of these walls have been white for almost 5 years! Adding this bit of color, has made a great impact in the showroom. Donna, my longtime loyal sales associate and showroom decorator, has turned these "once before" white walls into beautiful colored wall dividers. The sections are now well defined. We changed the dated white formica shelves and added glass ones. Now the light from above can now be seen all the way to the floor! We ended up doing something similar to showcase our strollers in the back section of the store. We have grouped our strollers by brand, and we decided to use a green color across all brands to keep it unified. The stroller companies that we showcase are Baby Jogger, UPPAbaby, Phil & Teds, Mountain Buggy, BOB, and Chicco.

My next section to work on is the Carter's section. I love the fact that every week I have a project to promote and have a staff (my extended family) willing to tackle anything I bring to the table. So, we are all looking forward to this next project. I can't wait!

Who are we?

2010-05-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Our USA BABY store in Berlin, Connecticut opened its doors on Dec 15th, 2004. I was 6 months pregnant with my second child. We had worked in the corporate world for quite some time before deciding to settle down and start a family. We had always wanted to open up a business but were not certain what that business was. I knew that I had to trust my instincts because I knew that "running a business" was in my blood.

My grandfathers, on both sides of the family, had owned to their "bodegas"...one of them in Puerto Rico and the other one somewhere in New York city. While growing up in Puerto Rico, when I was ten, my mom remarried and ended up running a clothing store with my stepfather. I remember visiting my mom and stepfather in Sabana Grande (the town where the store was) over the weekends when I was studying for my bachelor's degree at University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. I remember my mom assisting customers with their clothing selection. The cash register was simple. The only tender accepted was cash. The big chain stores like Wal-Mart were non-existent. Layaway was a big thing back home. When a big holiday was approaching, like for example Christmas, customers would come a month before Christmas to put their clothes on layaway and they would come every week to pay "abonar" a little bit at a time.

Now that I can just stop and think I can certainly say that life was simple back then. When I moved to the U.S. after I graduated from UPR in 1992, I realized that the pace here was a lot faster than what I had been acostumed to. But I was young (I still am!) and soon adapted to the changes. I met my husband at Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford. It was our first job out of college. I was recruited from UPR and he had been recruited from UConn at Storrs. My husband's parents had moved from India back in the late 60's. They are now longtime residents of Wallingford. They, too, used to own a small convenience store in Wallingford for many years (where Neil's Donuts is located now!) until they decided that it was time to move on. I love to sit down with my mother-in-law and listen to her reminiscent about her years at the store. Customers were greeted and soon given their coffee just they way they liked it. Manish (my dear hubby) used to help his mom at the store by sorting the newspaper and helping out with the breakfast rush before heading to school.

Many years later our paths would cross...we got married in 1995. We left Connecticut and headed to Chicago for a couple of years. We soon realized that the weather in Illinois was not for the faint-hearted, so after a few years we decided to move to Phoenix, AZ. Now, that was more like it! We loved everything about Phoenix: the blue sky, the limited mowing, the lack of humidity, the blue sky. Did I say blue sky again? :-) It was now 1998 and we were bouncing the idea of starting a family and that's when we asked each other if we wanted to have kids near no relatives. The decision was unanimous and one more time we packed our bags and headed back to the northeast. We now live 8 minutes away, by car, from grandma and granpa! We still hold Phoenix, AZ very dear to our hearts and may end up there once our kids get older.

Our son Julian was born in 2002 and I was now home enjoying being a mom and getting acquainted with all of the stuff that surrounds a baby. A year after Julian was born I was then certain what I was going to do for my business idea. Soon after that we dove into research and started looking for baby franchises. It wasn't easy but things slowly started to take shape, and while pregnant with my 2nd child we ended up opening our baby store. Over five years have gone by, and I can honestly say that our store has matured and so all of us who have remained here. The store is a reflection of who we are, including our staff who I consider my extended family.

Spilling The Beans

How do we make good use of our showroom?

Who are we?