Owner of Children's Store Scrambles to Withstand Recession's Squeeze

I grew up feeling a sense of dread whenever the end of August rolled around and another school year loomed.

I attended parochial schools, so the end of summer meant buying new clothes and getting dressed up. I wore a necktie nearly every day for 12 years, and I have studiously avoided them ever since.

Ask my co-workers.

There are no neckties to speak of at Full of Beans, a boutique children's store on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington that, according to its advertisements, sells "stuff for kids."

But owner/founder Mary Hutchens is experiencing her own sense of dread this back-to-school season.

September and Christmas have historically been the boom times for her store, which has a branch on River Road in Potomac, which Hutchens co-owns with business partner Barbara Cohn.

The past two years, however, have been a struggle. Business has declined by 20 percent since 2006, when sales peaked just shy of $600,000. Her expectations are lower for this year.

"The way things are going so far, I would be happy with $450,000 to $475,000," she said.

Full of Beans has a special niche that depends on a lot of people having enough disposable income to drop $30 on a pair of baby leather shoes that some tyke may grow out of in a few weeks. About 75 percent of Full of Beans' business is mothers buying for their children. The rest is gifts.

"Our prices are upper moderate," said Hutchens, whose product line tends to focus on children no more than 10 years old. Most clothes run from $20 to $65, although you can splurge on winter outerwear for more than $110.

The big sellers this season are $10 "lunch skins," or fancy reusable sandwich bags (don't laugh, I may buy one for myself) and "Dress by Tea" dresses for the 5-year-old set, a $42 bestseller that's made in Vietnam.

Customers are very loyal, and many are like Katrina Kimpel, an accountant who lives a few blocks away. She dropped about $150 last week on her 1-year-old son Rex, whom she was carrying on her hip.