Starting a career, getting married, buying a first home, becoming a parent, and retiring are major life stages that retailers now target with progressive frequency and sophistication in what’s called “life stage marketing.”
This is significant because, when you enter these phases, you are often in the market for products you never shopped for before. You’re excited, curious, and ready to explore everything about these areas. Generally speaking, when new parents prepare to welcome a baby, truly understanding how the products work, what they’re made of, and if they’re good for a baby, toddler or child are all details parents likely consider at some point.
Aldea Home & Baby is a San Francisco-based retailer with a strong online presence with aldeahome.com and two brick-and-mortar locations – one in The Mission District in San Francisco and one in Culver City, near Los Angeles. After almost 20 years, the company – which specializes in sustainable, responsible products, is launching its franchise program with an eye on going national and international and reaffirming its commitment to supporting women-owned businesses.
“Aldea Home and Baby was founded in 2005,” said Johanna Bialkin, founder and CEO of Aldea Home & Baby. “Almost 20 years ago, I moved from New York to San Francisco. I worked in an online environment for a long time, and I wanted to get to know the city. I walked all the neighborhoods and I came upon the Mission District. It was so exciting because it seemed like the most diverse area and the most like the place I came from in New York. So many different groups were represented and there was so much going on. “ I settled on this area to open a store. My initial concept was an ‘every room in the apartment’ idea, which was based on a project called The Apartment in Manhattan. Architects and designers created a space, and then people could buy everything in the space – from the rugs and chandeliers to furniture to all the accessories.”
The Apartment iInspiration informed Aldea’s first Mission District location, but as time went on, it became evident that their small baby products section would need to expand.
“It was something we kept hearing,” explained Bialkin. “We noticed a huge need for baby products. Over the years, baby stores have come and gone, but we saw this as a place where we could make the most positive impact and provide the most support. We wanted to be advocates for parents to help guide them in what they actually need and don’t need. You don’t need a million different car seats. You don’t have to get a ton of stuff.”
Bialkin set out to make her Aldea Home & Baby team members experts in their products so they could help advise customers about what products are made of, how they’re made, what type of décor themes – such as “safari” or “ocean” – and color palettes that would last past the “baby stage” and transition to toddlerhood and childhood. The company has its own registry on the website, but it also interfaces with Babylist, the largest baby registry, so its products can be found there as well.
“We like products that are sustainable, made with a human bent, not made in a sweatshop, and that give back to a cause,” she says. “Those we partner with believe in making the world a better place, too. I come from the nonprofit community. My early expertise was in making websites for nonprofits and it’s important for me that we share the same vision.”
Currently, Aldea Home & Baby features 750 brands, many of which are small businesses or startups. Launching into large retail can be a precarious place for fledgling brands that aren’t big enough to be represented on Amazon or prefer to be in a smaller distribution.
“A lot of larger companies knock off products from smaller manufacturers and make them more cheaply, which destroys the quality,” says Bialkin. One of the reasons I started the stores is because I love product design. I love to know where products are made, how they’re made, with what materials used, and knowing the craftsmanship behind them.”
Bialkin has her sights set on expanding over the past five years, but the pandemic temporarily derailed the timeline. She took the opportunity to learn everything she could, work through franchise elements, and fully understand the markets.
“Since September of last year, I’ve been focused on trademark, auditing, and licensing legalities and details, and now we’re in the process of selling. We plan to be in all of North America and franchise internationally. The franchise world is different and exciting. I’ve been selling products for 20 years, and now I’m starting up again with something completely new and treating my business as something completely new. We’re going from a little business to a big business so that means documentation of all our processes and interpreting things in a totally new way.”
Franchising inherently shifts a company’s primary value proposition from the products and services to the company itself. A company such as Aldea Home & Baby is an ideal candidate for brick-and-mortar representation. For starters, it works in all markets. Also, one of the draws for in-person shopping is that it’s a tactile, emotional experience. It gives shoppers a chance to feel the materials, quality, and craftsmanship and to discover what they respond to emotionally.
“I’ve been to hundreds of trade shows across the US and Europe, and as I travel, I explore other small stores and see what they’re selling,” she says. “Our customers also give us tips on products they’ve tried, especially when they discover great things for their babies. We then research the products, and if they fit our mission, we’ll bring them into our space. I’m personally not a parent so I’ve found trusted advisers. We do a lot of vetting and if we start to see issues with our products, we phase them out and find something that works better for the customer.”
Whether the issues are with a lack of quality, consistency or poor customer service, Aldea Home & Baby advocates for its customers to ensure the brands they work with echo the same quality, service and values the company is committed to.
“Education is at the core of what we do,” she says. “We provide guidance on how to use products like strollers and car seats. We show how to adjust them for growing children, and answer our customers’ questions and concerns. We also conduct educational sessions at our stores that feature our vendors and clients.
“We’re also proud of our commitment to our communities. For example, we have an upcoming event in Culver City featuring one of our longtime clients, Kellie Menendez. She’s written a book that we’ve doing a launch event for in our Culver City location. We’re also hosting a photo booth soon for a visiting photographer. These events can always be found on the Events tab on our website, which we update regularly.”
Bialkin will be spending much of this Fall attending trade and franchise shows in Europe on her continuing quest to find the opportunities and products that are a strong fit for Aldea Home & Baby. She’s also working on collaborations with other brands to showcase and feature baby products for Aldea’s upcoming registry events in September. Work at Aldea is never done, and her clients, employees, vendors, customers — and soon, franchisees — are better for it.
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