The Growing Tree is 26 years old today! The Growing Tree shares space with The Mushroom Cap at 114 W State Street in Kennett Square, PA
A back porch (because we did not want to rent space and be committed to 5 or 6 days a week), a cash box, pipes hanging from the ceiling, a book of sales receipts and friends with children's outgrown clothing is how it all began on a country road in Landenberg, PA! How to get customers? Have a friend who worked in a mailroom in Wilmington, DE give you the list of streets and their zipcodes and send a flier to new birth announcements found in the local newspapers. The list was most valuable in that the newspaper did not disclose the complete address. The mailing list eventually grew to over 2000 with Moms coming from NJ, MD, PA and DE. Post cards went out periodically for sales. The shop was only open on Tuesdays and Saturdays to start - 9:30 to 4. Then we added Thursdays - then we added another day and.......................
Eventually we had a 2 car garage with a room above for the shop built in order to get the business off of the back porch and out of the house. The business grew and grew - we had girls clothing on one floor and boys clothing on the other - garage was not used as a garage for a very long time.
In the Spring and Fall we had huge garage/yard sales in the driveway where Moms would rent space for $10. They could bring their toys and baby equipment, cribs, etc. to sell. This sale was advertised in several newspapers - amazing where folks came from.
Advantages: Work at home, no rent to pay, home with the children who were only 6, 4 and 2 when it all began. As the children grew they were not the happiest about the business being at home but having been a latch key kid when growing up I knew that what I was doing was best for them. When they became involved in afterschool activities the store hours changed so that I could attend their activities.
In 1997 the building at 114 W State Street was purchased! Excitement - we were moving the business to my home town! The Landenberg store remained open as well until July of 2000 - it was apparent that since my youngest graduated high school that year I would no longer need to be home. When requesting phone service for the new location there were three numbers to choose from and one was 610-444-8484. Could this be? Two significant events happened in my life in 1984 - my Mom passed away in March and The Growing Tree opened in November.
That phone number was a message - it was meant to be!
The Growing Tree has changed a bit. We discontinued consignments for a couple of years. Our oldest daughter, Kelleanne encouraged the re-opening of The Growing Tree after her daughter, Keira was born in 2008. Since then we have added women's clothing, shoes and accessories.
Along the way I've met and become good friends with some great people! I've had some interesting conversations with customers over the years. And the best yet is seeing some of those Moms who first visited The Growing Tree in Landenberg so many years ago come to the Kennett Square location searching out those special little items for their grandchildren several years later! It's really good to see you again! Welcome back!
