Kid products retailer ready for shoppers
BY PAT KROCHMAL pkrochmal@pioneerlocal.com October 25, 2011 11:08PM
Apple Park Teething Toys are displayed in preparation of Saturday's grand opening of Wonder!, a children's store in Deerfield. | Ruthie Hauge ~ Sun-Times Media
Updated: November 28, 2011 8:41AM
Wonder!, a non-imaginary land for parents who want to shop in one place for everything imaginable for children from birth to 7 years old, opens Saturday in Deerfield.
The first-of-its-kind children’s retailer will provide the country’s largest collection of young children’s products and services under one roof at 250 S. Waukegan Road.
The store includes brand names and boutique labels of baby gear - such as 100 strollers - as well as furniture, bedding, apparel and toys.
The 135,000-square-foot store will feature a half-acre interactive playscape with live 20-foot trees, 10 classrooms and a programming stage that will be used for events, concerts and activities.
To provide a new play experience, inspire imaginations and encourage adventure for children visiting the store, Wonder! plans to change its components frequently.
Wonder! will also serve snacks and meals at an indoor cafe and provide parents and families with resources, including: floor personnel to educate parents about the latest and most popular children’s products; customized party space so no two birthday parties will be the same; and a 1,600-square-foot baby registry with attention given to new parents; family-focused programming with parenting and child experts; performances by “kindie rock” artists; arts and crafts activities; and trunk shows of the hottest products.
Wonder! will present a retail concept that is expected to change the way growing families shop, said Shane Christensen, the company’s founder and the parent of two small children.
Christensen, an entrepreneur who lives in Lake Forest, said he created the idea based on what he saw as a major hole in the marketplace.
He discovered it while shopping with his wife, Victoria, for their daughter Emma, 5; and son Tyler, 4.
“I took notice of the retail experience - how my wife was treated, the service we received, the product selection, the baby registry situation - and we weren’t treated very well, at all,” Christensen said. “The experience was lacking so much passion, energy and creativity.
“I felt if anything, all of those things should apply to children’s retail. And it was entirely void of those qualities.”
Parenting isn’t the same as it was when Christensen’s mother and father raised him, he noted.
“It’s a very stressful, overwhelming time of life,” he said. “So creating a destination with well-trained personnel who become parent advocates, partnering with organizations to provide parenting education, and presenting the ‘best in class’ of products in all categories seemed only logical.”
While the store, which took two years to bring to fruition, will offer 25,000 products, Christensen is also duplicating it online and will open the online store at the same time.
“Not only are we doing something on the brick-and-mortar side that is massive, we are doing the same thing online (www.shopwonder.com), which hasn’t been done before,” he added. “The fact that we are able to do this at a quality level is due to our team; and I’m just so proud of them.”
Christensen, who plans to expand nationwide in the future, recruited William Colaianni, former chief marketing and merchandising officer of Wal-Mart Central America; Keith Davey, former information technology director at Shopbop.com and Joseph Milano, another former key player at Shopbop.com, to join his staff.
Milano, who is in charge of merchandising and marketing, believes it is an excellent time to launch the business despite the troubled economy, noting there is no competitor providing one-stop service in the area.
“We are going to be competitively priced with the major players out there and have a lot of specialty products that parents will not be able to find anywhere else,” Milano said. “So it makes shopping at Wonder! more efficient.
“Parents can come for a class that will run 30-50 minutes, grab a bite to eat and still do their shopping. Parents also can drop a child off at a 45-minute class and get their shopping done.”
Milano noted that parents also will be able to buy all kinds of merchandise that they won’t be able to find at Macy’s, Sears or Target.
For example, Wonder! will offer strollers in 145 combinations of styles and colors, 30 rooms of furniture and items such as cribs that range from $300 at the low end to a one-of-a-kind acrylic that is listed at $3,500.
“But it’s more about value than price. We want to be able to customize each purchase to the customer by knowing the customer’s life style,” Milano said. “That’s because we want that customer in here four, five, six times during the year.”
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