Colorful success: Kreativa for Kids

Culture, family and fun inspire growth

By Lisa Casinger -- Kids Today, 1/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Brazilian born Ana Furniss always wanted to own a store. She describes herself as being raised in Paraguay (where she received her interior design degree), spoiled in Costa Rica (where she met her husband of 25 years) and working her life away in the U.S.

With the help of her daughter, Maggie, and husband, Larry, Ana owns and operates Kreativa for Kids in the Bird Art district in Miami.

Ana opened the store four years ago when the opportunity to realize her lifelong dream presented itself. Initially she was going into business with a partner but when the partner failed to invest part of the money, Ana opened the store on her own.

Maggie, who was in her senior year of high school at the time and planning on becoming a teacher, helped out in the store.

“That summer I came in to help Mom in the store and I've been here since,” Maggie said. “I wanted to be a teacher but I have just as much fun doing this and I teach people here about putting their rooms together.”

This pirate-themed vigette features furniture from Young America and bedding from Amity Home.

A Best Home chair and vibrant Russell & Mackenna hutch populate a nook in the store.

The women split their responsibilities, though as in many family businesses, jobs often overlap. Ana works on the interior design aspect of the business, both in the store and in customers' homes and she handles the buying. Maggie works on the furniture sales and baby bedding and handles more of the operations tasks.

Initially, Ana only sold youth furniture but as customers began asking for more and more accessories, Ana obliged and added more merchandise. The store is 3,800 square feet and the warehouse is 4,000 square feet.

“People would ask for advice on planning their kid's rooms or nurseries and little by little Mom started doing design work,” Maggie said. “It just flowed. As time passed, we brought in more and more product that was unique to the area and people didn't know what to do with it, so Mom educated them.”

Kreativa for Kids is nestled in a bevy of buildings off of Bird Road in Miami, a warehouse district that's gained acclaim as an art district.

“We wanted something where we had enough foot traffic but not too much,” Maggie said. “If we were on one of the major retail streets we wouldn't have time to devote to each customer like we do now.”

Though they didn't want to be on a major thoroughfare, they do want to reach out to customers. Ana and Maggie do this with bright, colorful ads in local magazines that hit their specific demographic and market and they use direct mail. This year they spent 4.9% of their budget on ads, but last year, after all the hurricanes, they spent 15%.

“When something like that happens you have to let people know you're still around,” Maggie said. “Word of mouth is always the best advertising but we also use the magazine ads and direct mail.”

Maggie says it's not uncommon for Ana to spend several hours with customers and this, in fact, is one of the perks that keeps people shopping this million-dollar family business.

Nursery furniture from Morigeau Lepine, Bratt Decor and Green Frog Art.

An oceanic-themed vignette takes its cue from a Russell & Mackenna bed. Accessories round out the fun, colorful look.

“We spend a lot of time with our customers and it's a real family store,” Maggie said. “My dad delivers the furniture, my sister-in-law, Rebeca, works here. Customers feel secure when they buy from us and then have my dad deliver and set up their furniture.”

Even the delivery truck says family as it's covered with images of babies from the Furniss' extended family.

Kreativa for Kids is about 45% baby and 45% youth and 10% adult furniture. About 20-30% of the business is derived from the in-home design service and 5% comes from the Web site, which has been up for two years.

Ana charges a flat $80 an hour fee for the in-home visits and they incorporate as many products from the store as possible into the design. Aside from aiding in product selection she also consults on wall colors, room layout and custom bedding.

The store carries infant and youth furniture, bedding, accessories and gifts, among others. The top selling categories are bedding, rugs, wall decor and furniture, and product is displayed on two floors in vignettes. The second floor houses all of the bedding and three bed vignettes and the first floor is devoted to the gift and nursery items, so pregnant moms don't have to climb stairs.

One thing that's been a huge influence not only in Ana's life but in the life of the store is her culture.

“We grew up with so much color,” Maggie said. “It's really one of the reasons Mom wanted her own store. When she was shopping for us (Maggie has two siblings) everything was so bland. She wanted color and couldn't find it. The Latin culture is full of color and so is our store.”

Maggie says her Mom has been the biggest influence on her personally. “She can sit there and design a whole room in a matter of minutes. It amazes me,” she said.

“Hispanic and Latin cultures are also all about family,” Maggie said. “A lot of our customers shop as a family and we get a lot of grandmas in here who want to make a room for their grandkids at their own house, even if they don't live far away.”

Kreativa's customers are typically upper-middle class, younger (except for the grandmothers) and Maggie says she's even seen a few black American Express cards come through the store. She says the demographic is changing a little though as moms are younger and having more kids and grandparents are even more involved.

She relies on Quickbooks to keep things running smoothly in the store and when it comes to shopping markets, they look for exclusive products and quality.

“Quality is most important, not pretty,” Maggie said. “It doesn't matter how pretty it is if it's not made well. We look for things that are different, that can't be found at Target.”

Kreativa shares the challenge most retailers lament over — keeping up with orders and manufacturers discontinued/back order products.

In four years Kreativa has earned its stripes and become a destination shop. Maggie says the goal for 2008 is to spend less on advertising and make more money. Ana's long term goal is to open a Kreativa for Home store in the next 10 years. She wants a bigger store but something that allows her to keep the personal touches that have brought them success.