Sophia Hobbs works with Dalworth Rug Cleaning, a Dallas based textile cleaning company. The business was founded in 1976 and has evolved through the years to provide comprehensive cleaning services such as Oriental rug cleaning, preservation, repairs, wrapping, and storage.
Shallow as this may seem, shopping for baby-, toddler- and kid-clothes is one of my favorite things about the whole “children” thing. From jumpers to jeans, sorting through racks of adorable, undersized outfits is a sure-fire pick-me-up. However, while a little one’s growth rate may provide friends and relatives of the youngster-in-question with the opportunity for gleeful cute clothes shopping from among several age/size ranges, that same perpetual outgrowing of recently-bought apparel can be less charming for busy parents. So if you’re on the prowl for great tyke-attire, whether hobbyist or hustling parents, here are five of Dallas’s best children’s boutiques.
The Gypsy Wagon. I suggest a swing by the Gypsy Wagon for anyone, kid-shopping or no. In the heart of Dallas’s North-Central Henderson/Knox district, it’s a fun and funky purveyor of quirk. On top of great, unique gear for your little one, the Wagon specializes in country-chic, the outré and locally-designed jewelry. They also stock an impressive collection of Americana furnishings, plus odds and ends enough to supply a decent-sized (and impressively with-it) retirement community. All of it offered in an atmosphere that feels more like a small-town thrift store of flea market than urban boutique. (In fact, a flea market is intermittently held on the premises). If you’re a parent with a taste for the offbeat, make the Gypsy Wagon your first stop.
Bebe Grand. Bebe Grand, however, is not the first place an offbeat parent should stop. Unless that off-beat parent had a sudden hankering for some cute, lacy, pink (i.e. traditional) baby things. While they do have some unique fare, Bebe Grand has focused on providing kids clothes as you think of kids clothes. If you’re in the market for an adorable stuffed animal or precious onesie, Bebe is for you.
Animal Crackers. If shopping for cowboy kitsch or pink lacy things sounds like an inconvenient waste of time better spent at an indie music show or coffee shop, stop by Animal Crackers. They cater largely to the fairer sex from diapers to dresses but have a respectable boys’ infant and toddler section as well. All of it with an emphasis on hip. Though Animal Crackers is technically in Plano rather than Dallas.
Haute Baby. Were the establishments in this article ranked according to the accuracy of their titles in relation to their stock, Haute Baby would definitely top the list. Haute couture baby (and older baby) clothing is what you will find in Haute Baby. It’s hard to imagine another building in North Texas with a ration of pink-to-name-brands this intense. Like fancy, well-dressed babies? You’ll love Haute Baby.
Ten Monkeys. Have you ever seen that Terry Gilliam-directed movie 12 Monkeys with Brad Pitt, Madeline Stowe and Bruce Willis? Well Ten Monkeys is a children’s clothing store dedicating to duplicating the post-apocalyptic, aggressively-urban styles featured in Gilliam’s dark, surreal psychological thriller; but for kids. Just kidding. As far as I know they have nothing to do with each other. Ten Monkeys stocks fun and funky like the Gypsy Wagon without the southern-fried flavor and the hipper styles of Animal Crackers with more insistence on light-hearted fun. A kids’ boutique that’s as fun as a barrel of monkey. As long as there are exactly ten monkeys in the barrel.
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