Traveling with Shelly Allen, Owner & President, Kangaroodle
Thursday, December 20, 2007Kangaroodle is one of our favorite stores on the internet, no small task when you consider that there are enough boutiques in the sophisticated mommy category to keep us online until 2010. Owner and president Shelly Allen was a product designer and buyer in retail for many years; once daughter Kate arrived, Shelly took her know-how in-house and applied it to building her own company whose key words – fun, functional, fabulous – clearly define the products she handpicks to sell. Shelly, who is offering a cute baby beanie (as opposed to a beanie baby) to one lucky COL subscriber (see details here) took some time to talk to us along with and Kate, 4:
What was the last vacation you took with your husband and Kate? Jeremy, Kate and I visited our beloved Napa Valley this past summer… This is where Kate was born and where Jeremy and I worked for nearly 10 years. We were there just in time for harvest and the smell of grapes in the air was heavenly.
Where do you wish you’d gone before becoming parents? We were fortunate enough to get a lot of the travel bug out of us before Kate was born, going to Europe twice and Belize. But now I wish we had made a few more trips to Las Vegas!
Pretend we’re giving you a free trip to anywhere leaving tomorrow. Where would you go? I would love to go back to Italy and explore the countryside.
Beach or ski? Beach, with lots of sunscreen!
Favorite domestic city? Hands down, New York. It’s one of a kind and the dining and shopping can’t be beat.
Favorite international city to visit? Paris. I have tiny Eiffel Towers throughout my house…they make me smile.
Favorite hotel? We stayed in a little hotel in Biot, France, near Nice, called Domaine du Jas (right). It was small, quaint and friendly – like something out of a movie. It was great to have the owners join us for breakfast and to hear about their adventures.
Pick one thing from your store you think is great for vacationing families. The Lil’ Topper Sipper Cap is a must-have for families traveling around their own town or out of town. It converts a regular bottle of water into a sippy-cup. I even use one myself! It’s small and convenient to carry too.
Has Kate tried any new foods while traveling? When we were in Napa this summer, she tried a fish taco and loved it! It was from this great diner-style place in St. Helena called Taylor’s Refresher (left). It’s been there for years and is still going strong.
Kate, where is your favorite place to go? Paris and Disneyland! Shelly adds: She’s been to neither! What a dreamer! She loves going to White Rock, B.C. to the beach not far from where we live.
What’s your favorite thing to do on vacation, Kate? Make new friends and play Ring-Around-the-Rosies.
Shelly, is there anything you absolutely have to pack for Kate when traveling or risk a miserable daughter? Her tiara, of course. Princesses can’t travel without them.
Kate, what’s your favorite thing in Mommy’s store? My shopping cart cover! Shelly adds: She’s outgrown hers now, but she remembers when this was the only product we sold and she used hers all the time. It was pink, her favorite color, so it was a natural favorite.
How’d you come up with the name Kangaroodle? Since we started with just one product, our shopping cart covers – I sewed them myself at the time! – we wanted something that conveyed a mother protecting her child. My husband came up with Kangaroo, but I added the “dle” at the end to make it sound more fun and whimsical. Now, almost 3 years later, we have over 1200 products!
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