Sweet shopping at Five Cent Lemonade

Melissa Weingarden had a by-appointment interior design business for six years until she decided to open a retail store three years ago. The store, Five Cent Lemonade, carries furniture, accessories, bedding, clothing and some gear.

"When I first started my business, everything was vintage inspired," Weingarden said. "The name Five Cent Lemonade has a warm, fuzzy feeling of being a little kid. I was at the New York Gift show working for a manufacturer and there was a guy selling frozen lemonade and wearing the old-fashioned paper hat. I had a vision of quaint little store and the idea took off from there. People in the baby world get it but I also get calls sometimes asking if I sell lemonade."

Weingarden carries brands other stores carry but it's her passion for what she does that comes through to her customers.

"I love what I do and can spend hours designing a crib set," Weingarden said. "About 90% of our business is custom work, but I try not to do much in-home design."

Weingarden works with customers in her store on design projects and said with technology and floor plans she can complete just about any job.

The store has doubled in size since its opening and features a space dedicated to clothing retailer Little Dreamers, along with furniture from Bradshaw Kirchofer, Nurseryworks, Classic Furniture and Bratt Décor; textiles from Baby Chic, House, Serena & Lily and Maddie Boo; and accessories and gear from Renditions by Reesa, Maura Daniel, Smile for the Birdie, Bugaboo, Melissa Joy, Skip Hop and Oi Oi. Her top selling categories are bedding, furniture and room décor.

Average annual sales are about $500,000, up almost $200,000 since the expansion and addition of Little Dreamers, and Weingarden is venturing into the wholesale arena with her own diaper bag under the Melissa Joy label.

Though Weingarden doesn't spend much on advertising, she does have a baby registry that draws a lot of traffic and she's recently started working with a public relations company. Her in-store events and community involvement usually benefit a local charity, the Samantha Foundation, an organization that focuses on child safety in the home. Each year the store has a fund-raiser for the organization; this year Weingarden is hosting a fashion show and serving cookies and lemonade.

Five Cent Lemonade is open and airy with product shown in highly accessorized vignettes with a healthy mix of boys and girls looks. Twin beds run $900 with cribs at $620 but Weingarden likes to carry a mix of price points for all shoppers.

"Someone can walk in and buy a $17 burp cloth or a $1,700 dresser," she said. "It is a boutique, not a discount store, but we have something for everyone."

Weingarden attends JPMA and the New York and Atlanta gift shows, and she is thinking of attending the ABC Expo this year, but with a small staff of three it's sometimes difficult to juggle the business and attending all the shows.

Weingarden said going from a one-on-one design business to opening a retail store was one of the best moves she's made and so was adding Little Dreamer. Her diaper bag line, too, is something she's excited about.

When it comes to trends in her area, Weingarden said parents are looking for more whimsical and modern styles and shying away from "mass produced" looks.

"Parents are funkier today than they were five years ago," she said. "They're sophisticated and savvy shoppers. That's one reason we really promote the furniture that can last for the long term, offer gliders that can be slip covered and chandeliers that are bigger and scaled to the room; they're investments."

Weingarden said the biggest mistake she made starting out was not educating her customers about furniture, something she now does.

"The biggest problem in the industry is furniture delays and damage," she said. "In the beginning I neglected to talk about the long lead times and the issues that crop up with damages. This is a real problem, especially with smaller stores like mine. More and more things are being made overseas and while you might get it quicker and cheaper, there really is a quality issue."

The most enjoyable part of Weingarden's job is the personal relationships she builds with her customers and seeing the finished product when she helps them design their nursery.

"Having a baby is one of the happiest times in a person's life," she said. "People with all types of budgets put so much passion into their babies' rooms because for nine months it's really the only tangible thing they have to concentrate on."

Weingarden is very focused on customer service, so much so that even if she ever starts selling on her Web site, fivecentlemonade.com, she'll set it up so people call the store and speak to a live person to order product.

"Customer service is key," she said. "You have to be honest. You're going to mess up and make mistakes, but if you're honest it will go a long way. You can fix mistakes, take a loss on product, but your reputation and how customers are treated is what people remember."

The store features infant and juvenile furniture, bedding, accessories and more in 2,800 square feet.

Bedding, furniture and room decor are top sellers at the boutique.

Shoppers can find the "funkier" looks they're after at Five Cent Lemonade.