Summer 2006
Personal Profits By Kasia Dawidowska

2,000 Square Feet of Personalized Gifts

Robin Kocen is the owner and founder of Babystuff and Kids 2, a 2,000-square-foot store in Richmond, VA, that specializes in personalized merchandise for children. In fact, Kocen estimates that 70 percent of the store’s products are ultimately personalized, by her or by one of the store’s three other resident artists.

The selection at Babystuff and Kids 2 is truly amazing. There are regular ceramic piggy banks, but also ones shaped like police cars or buses (for boys), or purses (for girls), along with beautifully decorated wooden step stools, toy boxes, cradles, rocking chairs, child-sized director’s chairs and musical jewelry boxes. For little travelers, there are suitcases on wheels in pink or blue available in any of the 23 Babystuff designs that feature trains and airplanes, ducks, flowers and butterflies. And don’t forget the blankets and pillows, clothes hangers and wall hooks, bookends, and dozens more home decor and gift items, all of which are ready to be personalized by the in-house artists.

One of the store’s most popular items is a family-sized popcorn bowl, painted with funny figurines (up to 5), ready to be personalized with first names. “People love personalized gifts,” says Kocen. “They are perceived as [having] a higher value,” than off-the-shelf products, because they’re unique and because, when it comes to gifts, the giver had to take a little more time choosing the gift than just picking something off-the-shelf. And because personalized gifts are often passed down from generation to generation they have to be made with quality materials that will hold up for decades, so Kocen stocks high-quality products that have the high-quality look.

Excellent customer service is a priority at Babystuff and Kids 2, where kids love watching their new gift being painted with their names. The atmosphere is very friendly and the staff knows many customers by first name, Kocen says. Her favorite customers? First-time grandmothers, of course! “They’re just so excited and want to buy everything in the store.”

That’s “grandspending” at its best!