When Kimberly Rief went about her business, two kids in tow, people would compliment her on her children’s style of dress,very East Coast and European, very un-SoCal.
She figured she was on to something. So the former design operations staffer at Irvine-based St. John Knits International Inc. started thinking about opening her own children’s store.
In March, she opened The Flying Pram on heavily traveled Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa. A Pram is a European baby stroller. They are big and navy blue with large wheels. Rief’s logo for the store is a Pram with airplane wings.
Her 3-year old daughter Natalie stars in the store’s advertising as a vintage stewardess for “Pram Am.” The tagline: “Children’s luxury from around the globe.”
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Rief’s daughter in ad: mom was advertising major |
Rief was an advertising major at the University of Oregon.
The 2,400-square-foot store carries clothing such as smock dresses and a variety of high-end strollers and car seats. It plans to add a furniture and bedding section.
The store also carries unique items, such as hand-knit dolls and mobiles from BlaBla, an Atlanta-based company that imports Peruvian products. Rief buys many of the products sold at the store directly from the manufacturers.
The Flying Pram also caters to parents.
“We have our own restroom,these little things that mean a lot when you’re shopping,” Rief said.
She works in the store a couple days a week. But mostly she works from home. She hired her former assistant at St. John Knits to manage the store.
“I do everything I need to do from home,” she said.
She said she uses Fountain Valley-based Cam Commerce Solutions Inc.’s retail software to manage her data and track her most popular items.
Among the best selling items are Mutsy, a $700 stroller from the Netherlands, which can be folded with the seat on, and the Bugaboo stroller. The Mountain Buggy, a brand that Rief carries exclusive to Orange County, is a popular double stroller. It fits through doorways and is more comfortable for taller, heavier kids.
Dads like the Recaro car seats because they recognize the name. Recaro makes seats for race cars.
The store’s location, a mile or so up from Pacific Coast Highway and Newport Beach, brings in tourists. Newport Boulevard is the main route for many visiting the beach.
“People from Europe get excited,” she said. “We had a couple from Ireland that bought everything.”
And with all the doctors around Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, the store gets customers going to and from appointments, Rief said.
Shoppers can pull right up to the store, one of the reasons Rief said she chose the location, which used to be a restaurant.
Rief is mindful that people research on the Web before they go to the store. So she said she prices her products similar to Web prices. Many shoppers also are her friends and neighbors.
“I don’t price gouge,” she said. “I have to look them in the face after I sell them things.”
The Flying Pram Web site is in the works.
The store offers services such as free delivery to nearby Hoag, and free set up of strollers.
“The dads always like that,one less thing they have to build,” she said.
Rief’s most pertinent experience was at St. John Knits, where she worked for four years. She started in sales and moved to design operations, where she priced outfits for fashion shows. She admired founders Marie Gray and her husband Robert.
“Mrs. Gray’s back,she has an amazing eye,” Rief said. “She tries on every garment herself.”
Rief watched and took notes as the company changed. After the Grays sold the majority of their shares of the company in 1999, the family had less influence and new management began focusing on the younger set, which upset its loyal older customers.
“I didn’t understand any of that,” she said. “Don’t mess with the cash cow. There is something to be said for having control.”
iPhone Hoopla
Look for continued iPhone mania this week at Apple stores throughout OC, including the Irvine Spectrum Center, Fashion Island, Brea Mall and South Coast Plaza. The stores were expected to see an onslaught of gear geeks this past weekend, when the iPhone debuted. The phone is only being sold at Apple stores, AT & T; stores and their online sites.
Car Trouble
Local auto dealers had a rough May.
OC new auto registrations,a barometer of sales,were down from nearly 7% from a year earlier, according to the Orange County Auto Dealers Association’s latest monthly Auto Outlook report.
Dealers selling Acura, Buick, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Land Rover, Pontiac, Saab and Volvo were among those that had declines of more than 20%.
On the luxury front, Mercedes-Benz was down 4.8%, selling 876 autos. Meanwhile, other luxury brands were up. BMW was up 16.8%, selling 785 autos. Lexus was up 12.1%, selling 741 autos.
Of note: Mercedes gained back the No. 1 spot among luxury makes in May. In April, Lexus outsold Mercedes for the first time here.
