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PODCAST: Kids Clothing Store Owner Makes Shop a 'Living Room' for Locals

By Emily Frost | August 3, 2015 10:35am
 Stephanie Goldstein strives to create a neighborhood gathering spot in her store. 
Stoopher & Boots's Stephanie Goldstein
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UPPER WEST SIDE — If you're looking to open a neighborhood shop, it helps to have an insanely good memory. 

Just ask Stephanie Goldstein. 

Since her kids clothing and accessories shop Stoopher & Boots opened on Amsterdam Avenue near West 79th Street five years ago, it has become a regular hangout for local kids during school lunch breaks, for moms needing to unload and for little girls looking for a little bling (or a lot). 

Goldstein remembers not only each customer's name, but for whom they're likely buying a gift and what that person would like. 

While cultivating an approachable and warm environment —where it's OK if kids take everything off the shelves, or play with her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel — Goldstein has made store into a community hub.

Goldstein sat down with DNAinfo to talk about the ups and downs of running a small business, expansion plans, and why she thinks the store should serve coffee — and perhaps flasks of something stronger. 

Emily: Tell me about why you went about opening a small store on the Upper West Side and what that process was like, and also why you chose the neighborhood.

Stephanie: Just a little background of my story; so I did corporate strategy consulting for about 13 years before this. My thing was always, if money wasn't an object, people ask each other that, and my answer was, "Well, I would open a store." It just got to a point where I was ready to start doing something for myself and not what the "right thing to do" was. It just felt like that's what I was going to do. I lived on the Upper West Side and I still do. In my heart, I felt like that's where I should just keep the store.

The initial idea for the store was that it was going to be a gift store and it was all handmade things. That really was something that I just felt like the neighborhood needed, which is why I ended up feeling like, "Okay, well, this is a good neighborhood to do it in." The store's evolved a lot since then, and it's neither of those two things, but it ended up just being a really good place to have a store.

Emily: How did it evolve into a kids' store?

Stephanie: Given that it was going to be handmade gifts, when I started with that, I just kept finding a lot of really good things in that genre that were for kids, so it became primarily kids' stuff. I joke that I have a Peter Pan complex. I think I just am attracted to the bright colored, fun, younger-looking things, so I just started to carry more and more of that. It started to attract the younger customer. I had some adult gifts. That sounds pornographic, but I had housewares and things like that that would sell but not as much as the kids' stuff. I just started carrying more kids' things. There was some clothing that I carried that were handmade items, including my own line, and those were selling really well. Then I felt like, "Oh, I should introduce more clothing," and that's sort of how it evolved.

Emily: What's the story behind the name?

Stephanie: My father calls me Stoopher and he calls my sister Boots. I just felt like it was a cute name.

Emily: It's very cute. Yeah.

Stephanie: Thank you. Thank you. If I'd known what a big part of the store the dog would be, it might have been Stoopher & Scout, but it's cute because the kids call me Stoopher now. I'm only used to my father calling me that, but they'll walk in and be like, "Stooph, Stoopher."

Emily:Yeah. Talk about your relationship with the kids and families in the neighborhood. I've heard that this is a very homey store. It's a place that's like a gathering spot. People come here to hang out, that you know everyone really well. How did that evolve?

Stephanie: I don't know exactly. It definitely was not formulaic. I always said, when I was creating this space, that I wanted it to be like you were coming into my living room and we were hanging out, and there were some things that you saw that I had that you wanted for yourself and so you bought them. When we designed the space, it was very much about, can a stroller get every way, is there a place to sit, that kind of a thing.

Then the funny thing is I really felt like one of the things I was most worried about with the store was the dog. I knew that he was going to be here, but I wasn't really sure where I was going to put him, how I was going to control him in the space. In the end, he's part of what's made this feel very much like you're hanging out in my living room. People come in just to see Scout. I also have kind of a crazy good memory, so I'm really good at remembering everybody's names and their kids' names and what their kids like and that kind of thing. That also helps with the relationship building.

Then I'm also just kind of a caretaker at heart, so the middle school kids get lunch out and it makes me nervous that they have an hour out wandering the neighborhood, so I let them eat in here. You can come in on a given school day and you just see them in the back of the store, sitting on the floor, having their pizza. It makes me feel good to know they're out of the rain or out of trouble, that kind of thing, but I guess that contributes to the feel as well.

Emily: Yeah, and all middle school kids want somewhere to hang out and that's their own space.

Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Emily: You'll greet customers by name and remember what they bought?

Stephanie: It sometimes freaks people out a little bit because someone will come in and say, "I need a gift for," and I'll know ahead of time who they're shopping for because I know where they go to school and how old their kid is and who their child is friends with. Then I'll remember what other people have bought for that child. It just really helps.

Emily: It's all up in your ...

Stephanie: It's just all up in my head.

Emily: ... memory. You don't have it written down anywhere?

Stephanie: Yeah. I do write down sometimes. Kids give me wish lists, and that's really just about the kids not begging their moms for something. I'll pull out a stack of index cards and let the kids write it down. That's helpful too because ...

Emily: Wow.

Stephanie: ... I don't remember everything, but yeah, a lot is in my head.

Emily: Do they treat you almost like a guidance counselor also? Do they come to you for advice?

Stephanie: Some of the kids, they're definitely ... Some of the middle school kids definitely will tell me things or ask me questions. I'll be like, "I think the best advice is that you tell your mom." That happens. The little kids, not as much. The middle school kids do, and now they're in high school and going to college, which is just bizarre. Some of them work for me. Yeah, those kids, yeah, but the little ones, no. They'll tell anybody anything.

Emily: Do the older kids come back and ...

Stephanie: Yeah, they come back and visit. It just freaks me out that they're so old, because I'm still the same age, right? I'm not getting any older.

Emily: Yeah, naturally. Are we talking primarily about girls?

Stephanie: We are talking primarily about girls. There are a few boys who ... There's one boy in particular that I'm thinking about who's going to be a senior in high school, and I've known him since he was in middle school. He would come mostly to see Scout, but he'll stop by when he's in the neighborhood and just say hi. It's really cute.

Emily: That's really great.

Stephanie: He doesn't look any older to me, but yeah. He brought me his girlfriend so I could meet her.

Emily: Oh my gosh. There's a real family feel.

Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah, thankfully. It is.

Emily: Can you describe the store? I'm sure people that haven't been in are curious about what we're talking about. Also, Scout. Can you describe him for us? Because I got to meet him, but ...

Stephanie: Scout, Scout is a King Charles Spaniel. He's a tricolor, it's called, so he's black and white and brown, mostly black and white. He has ears that pretty much reach the floor. He's small, like 15 pounds, and he greets customers faster than I do, usually with a lick.

The store is ... It's small. It's about 650 square feet, very brightly lit, lavender walls, very bright-colored merchandise. I try to make it seem not overwhelming, but often customers say that when they're in here, they feel like they need to spend a really long time looking, because they're always finding something extra in some little corner that they didn't realize was there. I joke with people it's ... Most people end up with multiple purchases in one visit. They'll come in, they'll buy something, and then they'll be walking out and see something else and they're back at the register.

Emily: Do people generally take a long time?

Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah. Some people really just hang out. They'll come in to buy something, but then we get to talking. They'll be here for a little bit. I always say I should have coffee and maybe a flask for some of the parents in their bad moments. Yeah, it's definitely not a rushed place. I always ... I don't know. I want people to be able to take their time. I want people to feel like they can just be in here. I try to participate in their conversations. It's not transactional.

Emily: You have a chalkboard wall and some other features that are for kids to play.

Stephanie: Yeah. I think that when I first opened, I was really nervous about kids touching everything in here. I wanted those dedicated spaces where people could do things. Now I'm a little bit more relaxed and I know they're not going to really break anything. They have the dog. I don't mind if they play with a ball. I always, whenever I hire somebody, one of the most important things is that they're good with kids. We'll always divide and conquer if we need to, and we'll play with one of the children while the parent's shopping if we need to do that. I'm also fine if a kid comes in and takes every sticker off the sticker rack and lays them on the floor. Those can get put back. They're not getting ruined. They're still fine.

Emily: How did you get so good with kids? Do you have your own kids?

Stephanie: I don't have kids. My sister has two sets of twins who are 6 and 9, so that's a handful. I don't know. I've always really liked kids. My nieces and nephews joke that, "What are you? You're not a grown-up," because I don't have kids, "but you're not a kid, so what are you?" They can't quite figure out my definition. They know that I relate to them really well, which is ...

Emily: Yeah, and you said it's a 650-square-foot space.

Stephanie: I think so. That's what they advertised.

Emily: How did you go about getting this space? Were you nervous about renting the space? How did you choose the location? Take us through those steps.

Stephanie: Okay. I knew I wanted the Upper West Side. In my head, I really wanted to be on Columbus because I felt like Columbus was where I did my shopping and that's where the shopping happened. I looked on my own. I would see for rent signs and call. There was a space up near Gristedes in the 80s that I looked at and I wanted. They had a broker representing the space. I started to get the feeling like I needed representation too, because I wasn't necessarily seeing what was open. I wasn't really sure how to talk to the owner of the building, that kind of thing. That broker was Doug, and I actually asked him ...

Emily: Doug Kleiman?

Stephanie: Doug Kleiman, yeah. I actually asked him to be my broker representing me as well. That deal, they wanted things from me that I wasn't willing to commit to. I just was going to end up putting my personal finances at risk, which I wasn't willing to do. I said no to those terms. That space fell through. Then I felt like, "Gosh, I really don't know where I'm going to find space." That was the hardest part really, was finding space that somebody ... I wasn't an existing business. I had existing financials, but most of those were personal, and so where was I going to find somebody who was going to take a chance on me?

This space was actually a women's clothing store that I always liked. I always would come in and say to myself, "You know, if I ever had a store, this is exactly the kind of space I would want." One day, right after I said no to that deal, I was walking by this store. I don't know, they were having a sale or something, and I came in. It turned out that they were having a sale because they were closing. I was upset that they were closing, but I was like, "Oh wait, this might be a good opportunity."

I immediately called Doug, and I said, "Find out what they want for this space." He said, "When do you need to see it?" I said, "I don't need to see it. I know I want this space." It just worked out. We ended up ... We were going up against somebody else for the space, and luckily the landlord picked me. It was kind of just meant to be. I was worried about Amsterdam, because I felt like I never shop on Amsterdam. Then the day I opened, I was like, "Oh, wait. This place doesn't need to be a destination. I'm between 17 different schools and kids are walking up and down this block all the time."

Emily: Right. Right. You've got P.S. 87 and what are the other schools, Collegiate?

Stephanie: I have P.S. 87 just south of me. I have Rodeph Sholom just north of me. I have the JCC and Calhoun, both about two blocks south of me. Yeah, Collegiate's about a block east.

Emily: Amsterdam has changed a lot. You now have ...

Stephanie: It has.

Emily: ... Sugar and Plumm, which is a dessert and candy restaurant and store, that I see a lot of kids hanging out in. Has that helped your business?

Stephanie: It has. This block has changed a lot since I got into the space. When I opened, they were just about to start construction on Sugar and Plumm. Those places were leaving. It was a lot of empty space or places in transition. Ottomanelli's was still on the corner, which is now Classic Kids. Emack & Bolio's, the ice cream place, was renegotiating a lease. It felt like a lot of transition. Oh, and next door to me wasn't Caffe Noi. It was the Gavin Printing, which had been there for forever. When I came in, the block was really changing a lot. Since then, so many other places have come in. Yeah, I think to make a block a destination, and it also is just a lot of ... It's a prettier block, I would say.

Emily: Mm-hmm, and more foot traffic.

Stephanie: More foot traffic, yeah.

Emily: That was 2010.

Stephanie: Mm-hmm.

Emily: Do you have a 10-year lease?

Stephanie: I have a 10-year lease. Yes. We have 5 more years.

Emily: Do you worry about 2020?

Stephanie: Yeah, a little bit. I've talked to Doug about it, because I got in at a really good time. I do worry, but we'll figure it out. I might try to negotiate it early. We'll see.

Emily: Is that a strategy that people are advising small businesses to take?

Stephanie: I don't know. That's what he said.

Emily: Yeah.

Stephanie: I don't know. I don't know. I do worry about it. It's something that I need to look into and figure out what the best thing to do is, but for now, I don't know. Maybe in 5 years, I won't want a store. I doubt it, but ...

Emily: Kids, cover your ears.

Stephanie: Gosh, I don't know. I was thinking last night about ... You had said, how do we compete with an Amazon, something like that? The truth is I don't even think about it. To me, it's a whole other kind of an experience. I feel like let me just do what I'm doing the best that I can do it, and that's working out for me. If I got caught up worrying about how to compete with a big store like that, I think it would make me crazy. I had one customer  who once who said to me, "Do you price match?" I said, "With who?" She said, "With Amazon." I laughed out loud, like I just couldn't believe that that would even be considered an option. That's just not who we are. We're a boutique, and when you walk in, that's what you should expect of it. They're two different entities to me.

Emily: Do you think part of your edge or the edge that you're going after is that you have non-brand things, you have different stuff that people might not be able to find as easily?

Stephanie: I definitely have some stuff that people couldn't find as easily. I do have some things that you could find on an Amazon. It's a little bit of a mix. You get a personal experience in here that you're not going to be able to get, even from a big box store. From an online store, obviously you can't try it on, but there's also just that personal touch that you get from a boutique that you don't get from one of those stores. That's why we just try to keep it really warm and friendly.

Emily: How do you personalize it beyond getting to know people?

Stephanie: With clothing in particular, people like to know where it's from, that kind of thing, for sure. They trust my eye, so they know I'm going to find brands that maybe they haven't heard of that are going to be cool. They trust my judge of quality. I know fit, so I can talk to somebody about their particular child, how this item's going to fit, how it's going to look, without ... Not every kid wants to try something. A 4 year old isn't in here psyched to get in a dressing room and try things on, but I have a good sense for each of my items and how they're going to look on those different body types. I think that helps as well.

Emily: Area Kids, which was on Amsterdam, and HomBom Toys have both closed since you opened. Has that helped you or were those different kind of audiences?

Stephanie: Those were really different kinds of stores, because they were more toy-focused. They were primarily toy stores. I think that there's West Side Kids, which is a great go-to toy store. I think that HomBom and West Side also had a very different feel from one another. I'm a little bit of both, so I wasn't really impacted by those. I guess Area Kids was clothing too, and they had more boy stuff.

Emily: How do you select the things in the store? How do you stay on the cutting edge of what teens, tweens want, little girls?

Stephanie: I really primarily buy what I like. I do. I do keep certain customers in mind when I'm shopping, now that I know my customers. I'll think, "Oh, Ryan would really like this dress. This is a total Ryan dress. I have to get this for her." That helps. As I get to know my customers, I know what their needs are, and I can shop for that, but a lot of it is really what I like. It's funny, because I'll get really excited about something in the store, like there's this sweater I'm looking at right now that I adore. Every time I hold it up to a customer, they say, "Of course you love that sweater. You would wear that sweater."

Emily: Where do you shop for your own clothing?

Stephanie: There's a really good store who's a little hole in the wall on the Upper West Side. It's on Broadway between 92nd and 93rd called Shishi. They're a similar concept. They don't have a lot of brands that you would have heard of. You go in there, and they basically just dress you. It's awesome, because you don't look at size. As a woman, you don't want to get caught up in that. I just literally ... I'll walk straight into the dressing room and they'll just bring me things. I'll try them on and I walk out of there feeling great. It's really reasonably priced. That's mostly where I do my shopping.

Emily: Great tip. What are the things that kids are most drawn to and parents are most drawn to? What are some of the most popular things that ...

Stephanie: That we sell?

Emily: ... you always have in stock and you always sell?

Stephanie: Oh. That's a good question. We're kind of known for our stickers. We have really good stickers. I don't know why. I love our stickers too. I'm really into stickers, but it's funny because people will come in just for those.

Emily: What kind of stickers are they?

Stephanie: The most popular sticker that we have are these Dress Up Girl ones, which I was very resistant to at first, because I thought it was kind of weird. It's basically a blank surface. It's the concept basically of a paper doll. The base sticker is kind of a naked girl. It's PC, but she's naked. Then there are different outfits that you can put on her. Some of them, you can make faces with her, and you can do it over and over again. Initially I was very resistant to it because I was like, "There's a naked girl," but I guess she's not so naked. Anyway, people come in just for the Dress Up Girls. I'm constantly reordering the Dress Up Girls, so that's one thing.

The other thing that I always have in here, I have my own line. It's called Sparkle by Stoopher. We're in a bunch of stores, but people come in here knowing that I'll have the Sparkle stuff. People also like that they're supporting my craft, so I have certain customers who will come in for gifts. They'll say, "Oh, I want to get a shirt." I'll show them something, and they're like, "No, I want one of yours. I want to give one of your things." I always have that.

Emily: What is Sparkle by Stoopher?

Stephanie: Sparkle by Stoopher is all of the embellished stuff that you're seeing around. There's a bunch of T-shirts and sweatshirts and long sleeve stuff. It's all rhinestone embellished, again really bright colors, because that's my MO, with just designs that I come up with.

Emily: Do the parents ever wish you did it for adults?

Stephanie: Yes. Yes, all the time.

Emily: Really?

Stephanie: Yeah.

Emily: Have you thought about that?

Stephanie: I manufacture my own clothing for it, so it's not that simple, because there's a volume play there that would be difficult for adults. I definitely have some small adults who can fit in any of our clothing in here. I've embellished people's own personal items if they wanted me to do that.

Emily: Really?

Stephanie: Yeah.

Emily: Where do you do that?

Stephanie: That all happens in my apartment, which we're looking for space to move it out of there, because when I first started doing it, I was doing it in here and it was selling really well. It was one of our most popular clothing brands. I thought, "Oh, well, I should offer this to other stores," which is ironic, because back in the day when I was making a decision about leaving corporate and owning a store, I played with the idea of do I want to be a wholesaler or a retailer. I decided I wanted to be a retailer, and now I'm both.

Emily: You'd keep it local so you'd be able to go back and forth to the store?

Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Emily: Because are you here all day ...

Stephanie: And my apartment.

Emily: Are you ever not here?

Stephanie: I try to not be here, but I'm here. I'm pretty much here seven days a week.

Emily: Yeah.

Stephanie: Yeah, I'm a little bit of an addict. I live around the corner.

Emily: That's great.

Stephanie: It's really not that hard. Even if I leave for a few hours, I can run back over if I needed to.

Emily: Because you manufacture and make your own T-shirts, do you think other artists and artisans are more willing to come to you? They feel like they have a kindred spirit?

Stephanie: It definitely helps with the relationship building with vendors. It also helps with relationship building with other stores. It's not in a competitive environment, I feel, with other boutiques. There are other stores that I'm talking to all the time, because I'm selling stuff to them. Because of that, because we have that relationship, I feel like we also then can talk to each other about both different brands that we carry and things like that.

Emily: I guess that would be advice for a small business owner is find a network like that.

Stephanie: Yeah.

Emily: How have they helped you?

Stephanie: They help me with a lot of things. I'll ask them ... It's funny because I'll see them at shows and I'll see what they're buying. All of our stores, like all of the stores, our customers all have very different tastes, so you really have to do it on an individual basis, but they've helped me just figuring out little things from how to price things. They've helped me figure out how to navigate certain vendors or different showrooms. Also, there are things that have happened that are just frustrating and I can vent to them, and they'll tell me about a similar experience that they've had. That's also just helpful.

Emily: Does the group have a name or is it an ad hoc group?

Stephanie: No, it really should. It's just this ad hoc group. It's from Canada to Florida. There's all different stores that are all part of this little network.

Emily: You mentioned that all the stores have different clients with different tastes. Is there an Upper West Side taste?

Stephanie: Oh, that's a good question. I don't know if there's an Upper West Side taste. There's definitely a Stoopher & Boots take on the Upper West Side, because I feel like primarily ... Let me put it this way. A lot of stores carry tween and junior sizes. The junior sizes are a little more risqué, I will say. A lot of stores that carry both of those things for the tweens will also carry the risqué things, because people want to dress like their older sisters. My theory is, and this is how I stick with just keeping it conservative, is I carry baby through tween. I'll carry things that I think that older kids will like, and like I said, there are moms who are buying certain things from me. It's not my taste and I don't find that it's the taste of a lot of people in this neighborhood to be wearing risqué ... for children to be in risqué clothing.

Emily: Yeah.

Stephanie: Is that PC enough?

Emily: Yeah, absolutely. Less revealing, less like a little girl that's trying to be a teenager.

Stephanie: Yeah.

Emily: Have there been funny moments in the store or moments where you feel like you're almost like a person's family member?

Stephanie: Oh, gosh. There's a story a day in here. Sometimes at the end of the day, the girls and I will look at each other and be like, "Today was a really good episode," as if this was a reality TV show that we're living in. Yeah, ones that are touching and ones that are horrifying. We had a woman come in who wanted to buy something so she could tell her husband that she was pregnant. That was amazing to help her pick that thing that she was going to hide in his gift of something else.

Emily: Yeah.

Stephanie: We were part of that. I keep saying we haven't had it yet, but I'm pretty sure a woman's going to go into labor in the store. That I wouldn't be surprised about. Then there are kids who I've known them since they were babies and now they have little sisters. We've been part of that. We've been part of sad moments in families too.

Emily: Yeah.

Stephanie: Yeah.

Emily: Do you have favorite parts of the job and do you ever have moments where you just want to go very far away and leave it all behind?

Stephanie: Favorite parts of the job, there's a few. I say to people ... My mother says that women are gatherers and that it harkens back to being hunters and gatherers, and it's just in our nature to shop and we like to shop. I feel like owning this store, I shop a lot less for myself, because it satisfies this need to shop and I get it twice. I get it when I'm shopping for the store, and then I get it again when someone's buying something from me. It's like I'm vicariously shopping through them.

Emily: It sounds like you have such a strong community.

Stephanie: We do. I'm so lucky. I'm so lucky.

Emily: Is that just through kids driving their parents in or parents driving their kids in? I don't know.

Stephanie: You know, I don't know. I don't know. People say that I don't give myself enough credit. I'm still surprised that people know the name of the store honestly, because I'm so insular. I'm here all the time, so if someone said to me, "Oh, I was near Penn Station. I saw one of your bags," I was like, "Really?" Or someone, "Oh yeah, I've heard about you." What are you talking about? How do you know my store? I have to get my head out of the sand a little bit, but I don't know. I think it's a great neighborhood. I think that luckily they found me, I found them. I don't know. It's just a little happy family.

Emily: Just a great fit.

Stephanie: Yeah.

Emily: It sounds like knowing the neighborhood helped a lot, living here.

Stephanie: It did. It did. Yeah.

Emily: Do you ever think about expanding?

Stephanie: People ask me that all the time. I don't know. I don't want to mess with a good thing. People are like, "Oh, when are you going to open Stoopher East?" Or, "You should open in Tribeca." I don't know. I have the wholesale side of things, which is a whole other business in and of itself. I would love more space here. If I could expand next door, not to wish them any ill will, but if I could expand next door and be able to offer more things, that would be something I would probably be more likely to do before I open a whole other location.

Emily: Right. It sounds like the personal touch makes a big difference.

Stephanie: Yes. Yes. I agree.

Emily: It's so hard with other locations.

Stephanie: Right. With other locations, if I could find the right people that could create a similar environment, then maybe.

Emily: Yeah.

Stephanie: Yeah, I don't want to jump into making something bigger than I can handle and having that be a failure.

Emily: Right. Thanks for talking with me.

Stephanie: Sure.

Emily: Thank you so much.

Stephanie: Thank you.

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