Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Baba.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Wow – I love telling our story! In 2000, I had moved back home from graduate school in NYC and worked with Anne Quatrano at Star Provisions as a visual merchandiser/buyer for the market. Over time, we realized there was not a lot of representation of children’s stores that were not rooted in very traditional southern design and we began to test the market with a children’s picnic theme in the market – Anne helped me get started, and I opened ‘the little store next door’ as it was called in it’s first press. (A nod to its well-established neighbor)
My husband & I began our family and our son, Jack, with whom I was six months pregnant when I opened the store is now in his third year away at school. It is just as exciting as seeing him grow up now as it was when he took his first steps. He grew up in the shop – I remember one year he thought we needed to advertise so he covered the front windows of the shop with hand-drawn flyers of different toys with his own tag lines – I have every one of those top-notch ads saved in a seed factory scrapbook.
The westside was a sleepy side of town it was growing quickly – it was exciting to be in a part of town that was still being discovered – that felt very creative, like the shops & restaurants were a part of that evolution.
By 2008, I had signed on to be the first tenant to move to the newly developed White Provisions over the train tracks (we even watched the footbridge be installed from our new space) and grew into a 4000 sq ft space which included nursery furniture, clothing, classic wooden toys and a room for classes & our book wall. My childhood book collection, my own family, our small team of some of the best women I will ever know, and our community are all the motivations for the shop and where it leads. And we’ve wrapped thousands of baby gifts over the years!
As White Provisions developed over the next ten years, I chose to relocate the shop back to the ground floor where we remained until our move in 2021 to Trabert Avenue – maybe looking for a little of that sense of discovery again. So, here we are today still on the Westside but in a smaller development, next door to some of our original neighbors Bungalow Classic & Kolo Collection.
With the move, I chose simplicity. Kind of a ‘back to the beginning’ (but not for long because the beltline is coming!) where we get to see the evolution of a place & the community.
This year marks our 20th year in business, and I could not be prouder – What a special feeling to be involved in so many families’ lives over the years!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When I first opened the shop (on a shoestring budget and unsure of what its future would be..), I had a cash register, a carbon copy notepad for receipts, and 750 square ft of inventory (including some perennial favorites we still stock today like blabla kids & jellycat).
Today, there are POS systems, social media outlets, websites, and more – we’ve grown to make things more accessible while trying to balance all that with the goal of making things simple, meaningful & positive for your customers. It is a lot different than back in 2002, but the goal is the same.
The obvious challenges include the recession of 2008 (right as we had expanded to White Provisions), which I safely navigated with the support of Jamestown, who was my landlord at the time.
The one challenging period that sticks in my mind the most – the 2014 ice storm. I closed the shop for a full week until the roads & infrastructure was safe for people to navigate. We lost a week’s worth of revenue because I wanted to be a brick + mortar store vs. online. That was when we launched our website.
And, COVID, the pandemic & the quarantine period. We closed from March 13th until June 1st and relied on that website to keep us going – the trick was that our website had a very different customer base than our brick + mortar so it helped and hurt at the same time. Selling 50% of our inventory online and sitting on the other 50% because it was more of what your local customers came for…
In some ways, the rules were so clear we just hunkered down and played by the rules to keep everyone safe. The years since the quarantine have been equally challenging with the uncertainty of supply chain issues (affecting everything down to our gift wrap supplies) and economic ups & downs. It has been a roller coaster for sure (I am not a roller coaster person)
It is my business practice that honesty is key and asking for help can lead to success as well as growing your community.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I would definitely categorize myself as creative over a natural-born business mind – but I have learned some sharp lessons in business over the years. I love being at the intersection of creative & business and seed factory is amongst my proudest achievements!
Someone in school once told me I had a materials fetish – I would agree. I love fabric & papers, and my graduate thesis was stitching on paper with dye work. I find hand-stitching some of the most fascinating details!
One of the women who works at Seed, Fallon, is teaching me how to knit (going slowly but getting there)
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Humility. It’s just retail – I mean it’s so much more than that. It’s the community that makes the shop. We have named babies, held newborns, laughed, played with children, and comforted families through losses – that’s what matters most. It is all about your village.
Contact Info:
- Website: seedfactoryatlanta.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seedfactory/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seedfactoryatlanta
Image Credits
Rachel Baba Mike Devine
