A mum-of-two is set to open what she believes to be the 'biggest' baby store in the Midlands this week. Local entrepreneur Kelly Carter is tripling the size of her multi-million-pound baby store in Radford, Nottingham.
Kelly, who owns the Little Angels superstore, in Prospect Street, is renting the premises next door - expanding her business from 5,000 sq ft to 15,000 sq ft. She plans to have the disused unit refurbished and up and running by Friday, March 3 - in time for her 35th birthday.
The business owner explained that she had lost her mum around the time of her 30th birthday and says she wants to replace those sad memories with something more positive. As well as expanding the floor area of the business, the move means Little Angels is adding three new members of staff to its number - taking the total to eight shop staff and five employees at its Ilkeston-based warehouse.
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Kelly, from Ilkeston, said the expansion came about after the unit owner, who she used to share a car park with, asked if she wanted to take the premises 'off his hands', so she had a look inside. “It’s an absolutely beautiful building - about 200 years old - and it’s got really stunning period windows and high ceilings,” she said.
Kelly, who is married to Terry, 44, and is mum to Owen, nine, and 12-year-old Connor, added: “I was filled with joy and horror at the same time - first of all, I could see its potential, but second of all, it was scary as hell because the roof needed repairing and the place needed gutting. It looked like an absolutely massive job.
“Everyone, including my husband and suppliers, who has seen the scale of the project, has been laughing at me and all have said it’s impossible to turn this around in eight weeks. But I’ll be the one having the last laugh.”
Seven weeks on, determined Kelly - who hopes the shop will provide everything a parent could need - is well on the way to ensuring the extended store opens on time. So far she has been doing a lot of the renovation herself, spending all of her spare time shaping the unit into her vision.
The extended store will include a bespoke jogging track - for testing out jogging pushchairs. Kelly explained: “There’s a massive market for jogging and all terrain pushchairs at the moment and I could see a gap in the market locally”.
There is also a section named double trouble, which will feature a range of double pushchairs, all terrains and a graffiti wall displaying designs by Radford graffiti artist Kaption1, who created the images on the wall outside Little Angels. Kelly also plans to hang vintage pushchairs, which she has bought from an antique shop, from the ceiling and there will also be a selfie area, complete with a throne, and grandparents’ quotes emblazoning the walls.
She also has plans to add a café to the extension at some point. Other features of the store will include more car seats and a demo rig, breast-feeding area, customer toilets and for the first time, Kelly will be able to provide full nursery furniture sets, with 16 on display.
Little Angels will be adding the Mee-go brand to its repertoire of stockists, and will now have enough space to display all of the colours in each pushchair stocked - which Kelly believes is the only baby store in the Midlands to do so.
Little Angels’ extension, open from Friday, March 3, is launching with a five-day opening event. There'll be offers, fizz and cakes, along with drinks for pregnant customers.
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