A youthful spin on fashion

Deborah Meron

Emilline Nice struggled to contain the squirming and whining of her

3-year-old son as she searched for baby clothes in the Glendale

Galleria. Surprisingly, she walked right past popular baby store

Gymboree. Even if her son is frustrated with being held, Nice is just

as frustrated with the teddy bears, stripes and other cliched

fashions that trendy baby stores offer boys.

The Pasadena mom found solace in babystyle, a Los Angeles-based

maternity and baby supply company that opened a store Tuesday, as

part of expansion from the online and catalog stores.

“It’s hard to find clothing for little boys,” Nice said. “They

have cool stuff like shirts with guitars. Not just teddy bears.”

The store sells some of the top maternity and baby designers, such

as Petit Bateau, Bloom Love, Levi’s and Stella for children, and

Citizens of Humanity and Chip & Pepper for mothers.

Cable television channel VH1 featured babystyle, and a $729

Bugaboo stroller it carries, on a celebrity shopping special,

district manager Heather Scott said.

“These lines are really popular with celebrities,” she said.

“They carry the brands that I couldn’t find locally,” said Nice of

lines such as Levi’s and Petit Bateau.

Babystyle produces some well-known products of its own, such as

their “softest cotton” clothing line that is made ultra-soft for the

comfort of mother and child.

“It’s fashionable clothing but still functional,” Scott said.

Mothers can find toys and nursery gear, such as their high-selling

plush animal chairs for $58. Their fall line delivers Halloween

costumes such as octopus, dragons and peapods from $20 and up. The

store also features a baby shower registry as a resource for people

who are looking for baby gifts. Kelly Walker needed gifts for two of

her friends’ baby showers, and she said she would shop only at

babystyle.

“Their quality is great, and it’s very affordable,” Walker said.

“I won’t go anywhere else.”

Babystyle was conceived in 1999 when founder Laurie McCartney was

expecting her first child. She was running from store to store,

looking for maternity wear and baby and nursery supplies, and wished

that there was a place that sold all of an expecting and new mom’s

needs under one roof. Babystyle began as an online store and catalog.

The business was so successful that in 2002 McCartney opened a

store in Manhattan Beach that had a strong customer base, said

Lariayn Payne, babystyle’s vice president of marketing. Since then,

babystyle stores have opened in 15 locations across California and

the U.S.

“We looked at online and catalog sales for a barometer to how

certain markets compare,” said Payne, who added that babystyle has a

strong local following. “Glendale is in our top 10 [markets] in the

Los Angeles area.... Glendale is such a strong market for families.”

The Glendale Galleria opening is the last store the company will

open in Southern California this year, but the company will continue

to develop nationally, Payne said. They make clothing for newborns to

4-year-olds and are considering expanding their line for young

children, she said.

Babystyle prides itself on its community outreach and plans on

having a grand-opening celebration Labor Day weekend that will

entertain children with face painting and food and parents with store

drawings and giveaways. The store is on the first floor of the

Galleria next to Fredericks of Hollywood.