Meghan Chambers, once an intern at Jelly Beans, is now its owner.
Staxx owner purchases Jelly Beans Inc.
Jennifer Muzinic
Posted online
Meghan Chambers remembers a high school wish written on a piece paper, “Someday, I will own Jelly Beans.” She may have lost that slip of paper, but the dream has become a reality: Chambers will take ownership of the store when it reopens in August at a new location at Brentwood Center, 2646 S. Glenstone Ave.
Chambers, who owns downtown clothing store Staxx LLC, and Jelly Beans Inc. co-owners and sisters Nancy Wade and Patsy Powell have talked about a sale for years, Chambers said. Discussions really began to heat up during the past 12 months. She declined to disclose the purchase price, but said the three were targeting an Aug. 1 transaction close. The business sells children’s clothing, furniture, home décor and gifts.
Construction is under way on the store’s new space in the Brentwood Center, the retail center where Jelly Beans first opened in 1994, Wade said. She added that the move was in the works before Chambers agreed to buy the boutique.
“Our lease was up,” she said. “We’ve had a great business there at Battlefield Marketplace, it’s a beautiful store.”
The leased space at Brentwood is 2,300 square feet, compared to Jelly Beans’ 2,800 square feet at Battlefield Marketplace, 900 E. Battlefield Road, Ste. 152.
The Battlefield Marketplace store, which will hold a sale on merchandise and a few fixtures that aren’t making the move, may stay open until Aug. 31, when its lease is up, Wade said.
Jelly Beans’ four part-time employees also will move to the new location, Chambers said, and she already has hired another part-time staff member.
Wade said she will continue to work part time at the store, noting that she and Powell decided to sell because they planned to retire; Wade’s retirement was only as a business owner.
“It’s just a perfect time for my sister and I – we’ve been doing this for 16 years,” Wade said. “We wouldn’t want anyone but Meghan to take over.”
Chambers, who worked at Jelly Beans as an intern, said the timing also feels ideal to her, especially since she became a mother in March, to daughter Harlow.
“Jelly Beans isn’t just that market, though,” she said. “Yes, there’s new moms, but you’re constantly buying baby gifts at any age.”
The store’s demographic actually is broader than that of Staxx, which caters to shoppers ages 25 to 40, since Jelly Beans’ market includes grandmothers as well, Chambers said.
Both stores will continue to operate independently, she said.
“We kind of announced it like it’s an addition to the Staxx family, but there are two separate businesses,” she said.
Jelly Beans’ product lines and offerings will remain the same, though the new store will feature a section dedicated as a design center, where parents can design a child’s room.
“We’ll just really be refining as we go. The industry changes so much, gradually, there will be new lines,” Chambers said. “We might carry mini versions of the Staxx lines, like lines that we might carry that also sell to children.”
Business at Staxx isn’t expected to change much, said Staxx store manager Abby Poland, noting that business has been good at 331 South Ave.
“I think maybe that helped with the decision to buy Jelly Beans,” Poland said. “There’s a feeling that we’re going strong here, and Meghan can step away and spend some of her energy on the other store.”[[In-content Ad]]