Filling children's needs in Cheney

Jackie Straley has had a dream about owning a business – a dream that will become a reality this Saturday.

Trendy Tots, a children’s resale boutique, opens May 11 at 108 College Ave. in downtown Cheney. It features children’s clothing from newborn to size 10, as well as many other items.

“It’s going to be everything kids, everything you can imagine,” Straley said. “It’s a one-stop shop for kids.”

Straley has been a stay at home mom for the past seven years, and was sometimes frustrated that the closest outlet for children’s items wasn’t in Cheney but in Spokane or at Airway Heights’ Walmart. So about three years ago she formed the idea for a local children’s store and began collecting items from family, friends, neighbors and others who heard about her plans.

She began looking for buildings in Cheney about a year ago, and seven months ago she had so many items that her family’s garage was overflowing, forcing her to rent a storage unit and moving her husband to telling her it was time to move on her dream. She frequented Imperial Styling on College to get her boys’ haircuts, but on a trip two months ago she found the space empty with the salon’s closure.

Straley said she was looking for the perfect building for her business, and standing in front of the closed up salon she realized “this is it.” She was able to reach a beneficial agreement with the building’s owner to lease the 1,400 square feet of space, and around a month ago she and her husband set in at the work of remodeling and outfitting it for use as retail space.

Straley said the items carried at Trendy Tots are “all good stuff,” used but in good condition. Besides clothing, the boutique will offer toys, books, movies along with bedding sets and items for children’s room décor.

She has also arranged for a local woman, who also sells adult versions, to sell her homemade hats and head wraps for children. Straley said she plans to have Trendy Tots open Tuesday through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“For now, we’ll see,” she said. “That’s trial and error.”

Straley said she’s heard from a number of women who know of her plans to open Trendy Tots, and all have expressed a lot of excitement about the possibilities of a children’s resale store in Cheney. The last such venture was Mommy and Me, which opened in 2000 but closed a few years later.

“Cheney needs this,” Straley said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.