RETAILING : Baby Needs a New Pair of Booties? Bullock’s Has an Upscale Boutique

You’re never too young for some things in life.

And in the days of 2-year-olds toddling off to the gym, to school and to swimming lessons, Bullock’s at South Coast Plaza is marketing its own contributions to the yuppie-youngster culture.

The flagship store plans Friday to open the world’s first born-to-shop shop in its infant apparel department--complete with a baby registry.

The new department’s shelves will be stocked with all kinds of baby paraphernalia--including tiny shirts, bottles, hats with sunglasses, diaper bags--all with the words “born to shop.” Frilly diaper covers have the words hand-painted across the seat, squarely in view when baby crawls away or does a bottoms-up. There’s even baby’s first shopping bag, which also has the slogan.

Shoppers also have the option of requesting that a 6-foot, cardboard stork be put on the front lawns of homes with new arrivals--telling the world the baby’s name, weight, and birthday. Bullock’s will deliver free one of its eight-stork flock--complete with pink or blue bows--for about a week after a baby arrives. The stork comes in two models, condo or single-family, with the condo version equipped with a stand instead of a spike for families with no front lawn. The concept was the brainchild of store manager Sue Graham, whose sister is pregnant. “We’re always teasing her that her baby will be born to shop,” Graham said. The manager saw the crying need for the in-store boutique because “the baby business is booming. Babies are now a big deal. You see strollers everywhere.”

And voila! Two months later, an entire product line was born. If the concept is successful at South Coast Plaza and the Sherman Oaks store (which will have its own boutique in September), it will be extended throughout the Bullock’s chain.

Of course, shopping for yuppies--even very young ones--isn’t cheap. The bib costs $5.50, the diaper covers $5. The 6-month-sized cotton T-shirt with matching socks is a pricey $38.

Still, the items could be just the thing for upwardly mobile parents’ upwardly mobile offspring who most certainly don’t have a thing to wear.