What’s Selling at Plaid Rabbit in Nashville, TN

Music City’s sweetest baby boutique has been open for nearly 40 years and owners Kendra La and Macy Mulligan plan to keep it around for a long while yet. Nashville natives might know it as Children’s Shop, but the name changed, along with ownership, to Plaid Rabbit four years ago. The high-end store that sells traditional children’s clothing has gotten a little update of flair with its name change. Specializing in gifts, apparel, nursery décor and custom bedding, customers can find all the fixing to help prep for baby and items serving sizes in preemie to 8 in boys and 10 in girls. Mulligan talks shop with Earnshaw’s this week about what’s hot in Nashville.

Q: Who is your typical customer? We’ve got two typical crowds: One is the new moms that come in to register and then usually follows up to when her kids are out of our sizes. The other is our huge grandmother following. They shopped for their kids here and so they shop for their grandkids here, too.

Q: How has business been so far this year? So far so good! But really, overall Nashville wasn’t really as affected by the bad economy so much as other places, so business has been steady for some time now.

Q: What are your best-selling apparel brands and styles? Kissy Kissy is biggest for baby. And for toddlers Bailey Boys is a hit. We also do super well with a brand called JJ Creations. It’s a local brand and they make baby gowns that are all white and have a little drawstring at the bottom. Moms love them because they’re extremely easy to take on and off and they are super soft. They feature little appliqués with different things on them like trains or animals so that you can customize them.

Q: What is your best-selling gift? We do great with Little Giraffe blankets. Another hit is Bestever baby mats.

Q: Do you do any in-store events? We do. We feature silhouette artists pretty much every month. Also, we do holiday events where Santa visits the store or we have bunnies for Easter, things like that. We also do charity events where we donate 10 percent of sales to certain kids in need in the community or things like that. We’ve also done open houses where our regulars are invited to come in and do preview shopping by invitation.

Q: What is it that keeps customers coming back to independent retailers? It’s customer service. Most of our staff have been here for 10 or more years and are so friendly and knowledgeable. We also offer complimentary gift wrapping so we are a great one-stop shop for baby showers. People value that!

Q: What’s the best part of your job? It’s just such a happy job! I was a nurse before this career and that was not always a happy place to be. Kendra and I both took a huge leap of faith with this place because we didn’t have business experience, but we went for it. And it has paid off. People come in here, they’re expecting or just found out whether they’re having a boy or girl and it’s just such a joyful place to work!