ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – Rising up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Meg O’Donnell was an industrious baby who loved artwork, and she or he efficiently capitalized on these traits together with her launch of Little Hen, an Atlantic Highlands retailer that provides personalized youngsters’ attire and equipment in addition to enjoyable occasion house.
“I used to be all the time pushed to create issues and beloved artwork as a child, particularly portray and sketching,” stated O’Donnell, 37, an Atlantic Highlands resident. “I additionally beloved to work and the sensation of accomplishment I bought when folks preferred the job I did.”
After graduating from George Washington College in Washington, D.C., with a twin main in effective arts and artwork historical past, she took a job in trend PR, a task which concerned touring to Europe with purchasers. “It was very attention-grabbing,” she recalled, “however I finally realized that it wasn’t for me as a result of I missed creating my very own work.”
O’Donnell went again to high school, graduated from the Vogue Institute of Know-how in New York Metropolis with a level in equipment design, and has labored within the ladies’s trend trade since 2008.
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In 2010, O’Donnell and her husband, an expert mariner, moved to Atlantic Highlands, and, shortly after welcoming youngsters Olivia and Jack, O’Donnell was impressed to create a enterprise of her personal.
“We used to name my daughter ‘Little Hen’ as a nickname when she was a child and I truly registered the title of my retailer in 2017, lengthy earlier than I owned it,” O’Donnell defined.
“At the moment, I used to be feeling uninspired and wished to do one thing cool with a youngsters’ model,” she stated. “I put the thought apart after we had our son and the pandemic occurred, however as COVID simmered down a bit, I went again to the thought. Being within the ladies’s trend trade and touring to Asia loads, I started chatting with factories abroad and began designing child’s footwear,” she stated of her foray into real leather-based sneakers for youths at an accessible worth level.
“I’d observed loads of younger households with little kids transferring to Atlantic Highlands throughout the pandemic, which impressed my curiosity in a brick-and-mortar location,” she continued. “The shop that we now occupy — previously a nautical outlet known as The Skipper Store — grew to become accessible in 2021 and after I noticed the ‘For Hire’ signal, I informed my husband that it will be an incredible location for a kids’s retailer.
“I preferred the house as a result of it was twin goal,” O’Donnell stated. “The entrance is retail house and the again is an occasion house for internet hosting youngsters’ birthday events, music classes, stitching courses, mommy-and-me yoga, toddler open play, and even speech remedy,” she stated of the communal house that offers youngsters a spot to assemble, be taught, and play. “The one factor on the town that I believed was lacking was one thing for youths, so I storyboarded all the things out and we opened Little Hen in November 2021.”
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‘See every child’s persona by means of their jacket’
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Right this moment, in her 2,400-square-foot house which caters to youngsters from infancy by means of age 15, the shop’s Little Hen model provides “an enormous line of customized merchandise for youngsters, together with youngsters’ denim jackets with completely different patches,” O’Donnell stated. “We partnered with Levi’s and at the moment are the biggest impartial purchaser of Levi’s denim jackets for youths within the nation,” she stated of her jackets, that are priced at $46 plus $5 per patch they choose.
“We now have over 200 completely different patches to select from — from initials to soccer balls, lightning bolts and way more — and you actually get to see every child’s persona by means of their jacket,” she stated.
“The jackets have grow to be enormously widespread and make a great gift as a result of they’re very private to every child,” O’Donnell stated. “We affix the patches with a warmth press in our retailer and our seamstress, Natalie, who additionally runs our youngsters’ stitching courses, can moreover sew every patch on for further sturdiness for anybody who desires that possibility.”
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Colourful T-shirts are one other massive vendor on the retailer.
“My husband has all the time beloved display screen printing, and after we determined to open the shop, he purchased a printing press and launched his personal enterprise known as Shirt Locker Printing,” O’Donnell stated. “Collectively, we design the Little Hen line of graphic attire and he creates them by hand in his studio. Our hottest graphic is our white ‘Snacks’ T-shirt with pink letters, however we’ve got 30 to 50 completely different kinds, together with shirts and sweatshirts with vacation themes this season.
“We additionally carry youngsters’ equipment like tote baggage, pouches and backpacks, and our line of $12 beanies can have a patch added to make an awesome personalized present for beneath $20,” she stated.
“We take delight in placing out a novel product at an accessible worth level and are particularly pleased with our web site, which took our enterprise to a different degree since we launched it this previous March,” O’Donnell famous. “Over the previous 9 months, we’ve shipped customized denim jackets and graphic T-shirts everywhere in the world and even to some celebrities, together with Nicky Hilton.”
Little Hen additionally options an occasion house that O’Donnell describes as a ‘completely satisfied place’ for youths and adults alike.
“Our again room is shiny and fashionable,” she stated. “With a pop of colours and attention-grabbing {hardware} and accents that I pulled collectively from my background in artwork in addition to cool music enjoying, from David Bowie to Taylor Swift, it’s a enjoyable escape from the world outdoors for all ages.”
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Amongst tendencies, O’Donnell stated customization, individuality and acceptance of individuals are all so necessary proper now. “It’s youngsters simply being themselves, saying ‘That is what I’m about,’ and letting folks know,” she stated. “Enjoyable, shiny colours are additionally in, together with tons of smiley faces, lightning bolts, neon, glitter, sequins, and so on. It’s an ‘all the things goes’ time with loads of completely different textures and colours. These youngsters’ dad and mom grew up within the Nineteen Nineties and it’s a return to that period and a brand new nostalgia.”
As for challenges, O’Donnell has come to know the ups and downs of retail.
“You be taught that gross sales will ebb and circulate primarily based on circumstances past your management, together with the climate, the pandemic, holidays, and so on., so it’s about managing the highs and lows,” she stated. And whereas provide chain points are bettering, she added, “transport prices have gone by means of the roof and product prices have gone up as properly.”
‘A retailer folks speak about rising up with’
Supported by 4 staff (together with retailer supervisor/buyer liaison Julia D’Aguanno) plus an occasions director who schedules the again room and works with instructors and a celebration planner, O’Donnell is a jack of all trades.
“I do all the things from ordering Levi’s jackets to designing T-shirts, transport objects, and taking out the trash — no matter must be carried out — however we’ve got an awesome employees who work together with our prospects each day and create an awesome procuring expertise,” she stated.
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Trying forward, “we’re all the time including new merchandise and courses and hope to proceed to develop our web site,” O’Donnell stated. “On December eighth from 6 to eight p.m., we’ll be holding our subsequent ‘store and sip’ in our occasion house. Throughout that point, youngsters’ jackets will probably be designed, pressed and sewn in our enjoyable environment full with complimentary champagne and appetizers and also you’ll stroll out with the right present.”
“Down the highway, I hope that Little Hen generally is a retailer folks speak about rising up with and a spot they will’t wait to carry their very own youngsters to sometime,” O’Donnell shared. “Our model is presently accessible at Maisonette (a high-end digital market for youths), however that is just the start for us and we hope to grow to be a nationally acknowledged model accessible by means of Amazon, Zappos, Nordstrom and extra as a result of we’ve got such a novel and widespread providing.”
Finally, “I take pleasure in making folks proud of objects I create and it’s thrilling to see how a lot youngsters and fogeys love our retailer and merchandise,” she concluded. “Seeing a child love our product and put on it to high school day-after-day is really superior.”
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Little Hen
Location: 35 First Ave., Atlantic Highlands
Telephone: 732-872-4354
Proprietor: Meg O’Donnell
Opened: November 2021
Web site: littlechickenkids.com