Jellybeans, Everything for Children grows into new space

Jellybeans, Everything for Children is expanding again. On Sept. 26, owners Patsy Powell and Nancy Wade held the grand opening for their new store located at 1636 E. Republic in the French Quarter Shopping Center.

When Powell and Wade first opened in 1994, the store was called Jellybeans Children Wear. It was located in the Brentwood Shopping Center, and sold children's shoes and clothes that ranged in size from infants to 14. In time the store expanded, however, and Powell and Wade changed the name to Jellybeans, Every-thing for Children because they began carrying furniture, children's bedding, toys, home dcor items, preteen clothing and other items.

According to Powell and Wade, the preteen clothing line now will be sold by their sister store M*B*Tweens, which is located next door to Jellybeans. M*B*Tweens is owned and op-erated by Powell's niece, Man-dy Britton. Britton, a 25-year-old entrepreneur, worked at Jellybeans for six years before opening M*B*Tweens.

Many of the children's clothes sold at Jellybeans and M*B*Tweens have a distinctive and funky flair. Shoppers can find clothes made out of leather, shirts trimmed with feathers or rhinestones, and skirts and pants in bright citrus colors.

"We try to find things that nobody else has, but we also don't carry anything that we wouldn't want to see our own children wearing," Powell said. "All of the clothes are well-made, durable and are produced by a variety of different manufacturers. Right now, we deal with more than 400 vendors."

To keep up with the latest trends in children's clothing, furniture and accessories, Pow-ell and Wade subscribe to several trade publications such as Small World. They also go to market in Kansas City and Dallas several times each year where they try to locate hard-to-find clothing items and accessories for their customers.

"I think one of the things that makes us stand out is that we're willing to do what it takes to get what a customer wants," said Powell. "We really bend over backwards to keep people happy."

According to Powell and Wade, keeping customers happy means creating a pleasurable shopping experience.

Jellybeans contains a playroom for children, and a number of rockers are available if a mother needs to sit down and take a break or nurse her baby. The store's aisles are wider than average, which allows parents to move their child's stroller about with ease. A large bathroom is conveniently located just off the sales floor. Even the store's trademark jellybeans is geared toward children, and every customer receives a free bag of jellybeans.

"This store was created by mothers for mothers," Wade said. "This store really fills a niche."

Part of that niche has seen Jellybeans expand to carry home dcor items as well as children's bedding and furniture. In fact, Powell and Wade recently added a computer-assisted design center, which will allow customers to envision what their child's room will look like once it's decorated and furnished.

All of the items needed to furnish that room from wallpaper trim to children's bedding to furniture can be purchased at Jellybeans.

"We've created a one-stop shop for parents who need to decorate their child's room," Powell said. "We carry several exclusive lines of high-quality children's bedding, and all of the furniture we stock is well-built. In fact, it's so well-built that many of our customers will take a piece of furniture, refinish it and use it in another part of their house once their children are grown."

Currently, Powell and Wade are working closely with Brit-ton to promote crossover business between Jellybeans and M*B*Tweens. Britton, in turn, is looking to host several special events that will attract preteens and their parents to the store.

In addition to running Jelly-beans, Powell and Wade give back to the community and to children. Both have been foster parents, and the two contribute to Victory Mission's back-to-school clothing drive, as well as the Missouri Division of Family Service's "Clothes Closet," which provides new clothing to foster children.