If anyone in Thunder Bay has felt the positive impact of the pandemic baby boom, it’s Natalie Carrier.
The owner of Lullaby’s, Northwestern Ontario’s only baby clothing boutique, has had everything from sleepers to playsuits to teeny tiny shoes fly off the shelves of her Cumberland Street location.
“There’s been no shortage of quarantine babies,” Carrier says. “At the same time, I’ve been so fortunate that this community cares about supporting local.”
At the onset of the pandemic, Carrier says she initially had concerns over how her business would fare. Nearly a year and a half since the first lockdown, she looks back with great pride, knowing that she chose the right place to start her business two years ago.
Carrier curates all of the pieces that end up in her boutique and places a special focus on Canadian companies and Canadian-made pieces. She says she goes this route because the brands better reflect the climate and needs of Canadians while at the same time often ending up being higher quality. As a local business owner, it’s also one way to pay it forward.
“We have to keep the dollars in our national economy so we can thrive,” she says. “That’s been especially important with the damage this pandemic has done.”
Lullaby’s sells a wide collection of children’s clothing for preemies to those who fit a children’s size eight. She also has a small selection of maternity pieces. There are 20 local vendors who sell through the store in addition to renowned Canadian brands like Portage and Main, Petit Lem, Miles Baby and Deux par Deux.
And while Carrier notes that the community has helped carry her through unprecedented times, it doesn’t mean she hasn’t faced challenges. This includes working through the blips of a delivery service she added during lockdown periods, but also not being able to provide people with the sensory experience they need, which includes touching and feeling each item before being able to make a purchase.
But as restrictions have eased and her store is able to take in a small number of customers at a time, she has a feeling that the future will be pretty bright.
She hopes that in the coming months and years she is able to expand her store into a larger retail space that provides Thunder Bay residents with baby products that go beyond clothing options.
