Community Highlights: Meet Rickelle Felton of The Kiddy Shack

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rickelle Felton.

Hi Rickelle, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been living in the McDonough area for over 20 years. For 20 years, I would drive past this small building near our downtown square and say to myself that it would make an adorable Hello Kitty boutique. When I was a kid, I loved Hello Kitty! My mom would take me to a store in the Southlake Mall that sold Sanrio items and it would take me hours to decide what I wanted. I had all the stationary, plush, toys, and anything else I could convince my parents to purchase. It always made he happy and I truly believe that it helped me embrace my childhood because it was such a wholesome and sweet character. Fast forward to the last 15 years of my adult life, and I’ve been an entrepreneur for over 15 years. I had a cake business, Kelle’s Kakes that I retired in 2019, and currently have a business consulting firm, Get It Done Boss. When I saw the small building become available in September of 2024, I jumped on the opportunity to expand my portfolio and open a Hello Kitty Boutique. November 23, 2024 was the official grand opening for, The Kiddy Shack! We carry all Sanrio products that include Hello Kitty & Friends. We also have vendors that provide other kid-friendly products like handmade bags, jewelry, books, and pet supplies. We offer custom experiences like small birthday parties that I call the Kiddy Shack Party Of Four, crafts, free coloring sheets for the Kiddy Wall Of Art, Saturday Sweet Treats, and VIP Shopping Days. This first year of business has been amazing. Everytime a child walks in and their face lights up, I’m overjoyed and instantly remember how I felt when my parents took me to that store in Southlake Mall. I’m looking forward to many more years of business in the McDonough Downtown Square and helping families create memories!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being an entrepreneur is never a cake walk! I’ve learned over the years with each business that you can have a flawless business plan, and all the resources in the world and problems will still present themselves. With The Kiddy Shack specifically, the road has been pretty smooth. Its my first retail business, so I had to learn how to properly set things up and what is required to manage it, however, everything fell in place perfectly during the setup and launch. That’s how I knew that God had his hands all over it! I prayed for this type of business that I could create something special for the community and a safe space for kids and their families to create memories. We’re approaching our one year anniversary and thanks to my lord and savior, we have sustained.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Kiddy Shack was founded due to my personal love for the Sanrio brand. Hello Kitty was one of my favorite characters as a kid and I’ve always wanted to have a children’s boutique where I could offer Sanrio products and share with children the same joy I felt as a kid. I knew that it would take some research and effort to legally be able to sell a licensed product, but I also knew that once everything was established, it would be a magical place where children could embrace their childhood and feel safe. Setting up the company, creating SOP, marketing, advertising, and creating all the framework to run and manage the business wasn’t a problem at all. My other business Get It Done Boss, a business consulting firm, specializes in all those things so I made myself a client and did for The Kiddy Shack what I do for everyone else. The Kiddy Shack is my first retail business, so that was new. Thank God for my business community and people in my networking circle, I had people that I could go to for the things I didn’t know. That made the process much easier. We specialize in Sanrio products, and Sanrio requires that you use their preferred wholesale company for inventory. Once I made the connection with my wholesale rep, all the other chips fell into place. We carry Sanrio Original Products and Licensed Sanrio Products. Our inventory is carefully curated to make sure that what you find at The Kiddy Shack is rare. There aren’t any other stores in my area that carry the products we sell. Most of our Sanrio Original Products can be kept as collector’s items. I have met several people that purchase from us who have large Sanrio or Hello Kitty Collections. There’s a community of people of all ages that love the brand and enjoy adding to their collection. Those are the people that make up the majority of my target market. At The Kiddy Shack we also offer custom experiences that support our slogan, “Stay Sweet With The Kiddy Shack!” Our Kiddy Shack Party Of Four is an all inclusive birthday party or celebration where the children decorate an individual Hello Kitty cake, create a craft, enjoy music, games with prizes, a snack, custom goodie bag, and group pic for only $500. The parents don’t have to do anything but show up! We decorate, provide all the supplies, and send a graphic two weeks prior to the party that they can share with their guest that provide details about the location and parking. In addition to The Kiddy Shack Party Of Four, we always have free coloring sheets for the kids to color when they come in to add to the Kiddy Wall Of Art. They can sit in the store and color or take it home and bring it back. All of our Kiddys that make straight A’s get a free gift and we have a “Good Week Kiddy Card” that allows educators and parents to reward their kids with discounted and free gifts. Our goal is create a community around wholesome, safe, kid-friendly products and experiences that will enrich the lives of people for years to come. I want all the kids that come into The Kiddy Shack to remember their experience and talk it about it to their children when they grow up!

What are your plans for the future?
The ultimate goal is to open several locations for The Kiddy Shack. It would be nice to take people that have grown from within the company and have them branch out and manage their own location. In the near future, I want to enhance the custom experiences with more features and heavy branding. I want to take our slogan, “Stay Sweet With The Kiddy Shack”, and expand on it with merch, social media campaigns, etc. We’ve signed on for more community events to gain more exposure and reach people that wouldn’t ordinarily come into contact with the store. Facebook and Google ads, commercials and more social media influencer boosts are in the pipeline. The goal is to make The Kiddy Shack a household name and a hot spot to visit for Sanrio lovers all over the state of Georgia.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thekiddyshack.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiddyshackmcdonough/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the.kiddy.shack.2025
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kiddyshack108?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc