Gear pays off for CitiKids
By Jane Kitchen -- Kids Today, 4/1/2006
San Francisco— Situated in the heart of urban San Francisco, CitiKids is a 7,500-square-foot store that carries just about everything parents need, from clothes to cribs to cloth diapers.
But owner Richard Woo said he is known as the "carseat and stroller store." With a large portion of the retail space dedicated to gear, Woo carries all the major brands, including Bugaboo, Maclaren, Combi, Stokke, Peg Perego, Silver Cross, Britax, Graco and Compass.
Woo and several other employees are also certified carseat installers, and while I visited, our interview was interrupted as hands-on Woo ventured out to the parking lot to install a Marathon for a customer he knew on a first-name basis.
CitiKids has been operating in San Francisco for close to 20 years and has been in its present location on Clement Street for 15. Locals hear about the store almost exclusively through word of mouth, said Woo, since he does no advertising except through the Yellow Pages.
Customers find nursery furniture choices from Legacy, Rumble Tuff, EG, Million Dollar Baby and Pali; bedding from Kids Line, Perlimpinpin, Picci and American Baby; apparel from Zutano, Baby's Own, le top Baby and Absorba; diaper bags from gr8x, Skip Hop, JJ Cole and Kelty; developmental toys from Sassy, Tolo, Lamaze and more; along with safety items, bottles, photo albums and baby care items.
Woo also has 2,500 square feet of on-site warehouse space, which he uses to keep cribs and carseats in stock. CitiKids has a Web site that includes information on the lines and items the store carries, and Woo said he's working on an online registry with Baby News.
CitiKids carries a wide range of juvenile products.
Woo says he's known as the "carseat and stroller store."
