Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Button.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
Tweedle Beedle is a family-owned business. My husband Daniel and I have two kids, Taylor, 15, and Chase, 8. Tweedle Beedle started in my living room. I had always wanted my boutique. When my son was a baby, I stayed home with him. It gave me a lot of time to think about what owning a boutique looks like. I started with an online store; I attended markets to find things I wanted to sell in my store. In 2016, I couldn’t find the style of children’s clothes I wanted to sell. From the beginning, I always aimed to sell the highest quality clothing. You can pass down these things, and they will outlast multiple children. My sister-in-law suggested that I make my clothes. Since I had been making my older daughter’s dresses for 4 years, I could control the quality and pick all the fabrics by making my own clothes. For about 3 years, I was sewing children’s clothes, dresses, pants, shorts, rompers, and accessories.
I continued to sell online but did most of my sales at markets in the Charleston area. In 2019, I was burned out, sewing all the time and going to markets every weekend. My husband and I decided that a Children’s boutique in the new Nexton area of Summerville would be a great place to open our store. At that time, there were no children’s stores in Summerville. We opened just 10 days before the pandemic shutdown. It was a wild first year where we got to know our customers through personal shopping and social media. In addition to selling clothes for kids preemie to 6 years old, I would also sell gear and accessories. It was and is still my goal to do a ton of research on the newest best items for babies to toddlers. This means testing and researching every item and brand that we carry. When shopping with us, we want to ensure you can find unique things that are made well. We sell brands you can’t find in stores usually but need online. In addition to the clothes, we sell feeding gear, infant bedding, diaper bags, backpacks, toys, books, gifts, teething gear, natural skincare for babies and moms, gifts for parents, and accessories. Please come into our store to find those unique things you have been looking at online. You can touch and decide which brands will work best for you. We are committed to understanding and knowing the features of all of our brands to help our customers. We get to know our customers, who feel like friends and family. A small business should feel more like a part of the community, a place where you see the owner and employees, and it has a different level of comfort when you shop there. Customer service and product knowledge are essential at Tweedle Beedle. We have a fantastic team that contributes to that. This is a massive part of why we were able to open a second store in 2023. Our second store in Mt. Pleasant Towne Centre is a larger space allowing us to bring products to children preemie to 14/16 years of age. In 2021, we were fortunate to hire two fantastic team members who have also grown our business.
Lauren and Gracie understand our mission: We believe being a parent is the most important job you’ll ever have! We are committed to bringing you the best quality baby + children’s + tween products in a supportive way. Our customers are so important to us. We always want shopping at Tweedle Beedle to be a great experience. We’re here to answer any questions. They have helped Dan and me grow relationships with our customers, host store events, and provide fantastic customer service. We are about to celebrate our 4th anniversary in March! It has been such a joy to have these stores. I love owning children’s stores, getting to know customers, and picking every item that comes into the store. It is the best job.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Owning a small business always comes with struggles. In the beginning, we opened during covid. This was a wild way to start after planning the store for over a year and getting delayed 6 months from opening. Before the pandemic, we never really saw what it was like to have a retail store. Also, retail can be a roller coaster. You never know when there will be fewer shoppers if you can meet your goals. With the current economy, sales have slowed, and prices have increased, but you just always need to have faith. If you believe in your brand, people will believe in it too.
We’ve been impressed with Tweedle Beedle, but for folks who might need to be more familiar, what can you share about what you do and what sets you apart?
We are a 2 location Children’s store in Nexton Square Summerville and Mt. Pleasant Towne Centre, Mount Pleasant, SC. We specialize in the best products for babies, children, and tweens. We carry clothes, accessories, baby gear, car seats, strollers, diaper bags, backpacks, feeding gear, natural skincare, infant bedding, gifts, and more. We are most proud of our fantastic team. Our store manager in Summerville, Lauren, is a pure joy to our family managing the store and team. Gracie has been with us for 2 years, keeping me on track with day-to-day tasks. Lexi has worked with us for almost a year and has an incredible work ethic for a teenager—all of our other ladies are currently working with us. We are proud to have a team that truly cares about our customers and store. We are always happy to answer our customers’ questions and pride ourselves on explaining what we carry. We love having events in our stores where we get to know our sweet customers—events like story times, story times with local authors, craft events, and visiting with Santa. I also pride myself on knowing the brands we carry in our store and the people and stories behind what makes our brands unique. Many of the brands in our store are small businesses all over the country; many are family-owned, and women are just like our own stores.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We want to continue to grow our knowledge about the children’s industry. We are finding the best products and growing along with our customers. I want to grow within our community more. Have more events at our stores and attend events in our community.
Contact Info:
- Website: tweedlebeedle.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/tweedlebeedle
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089830116072
