Shop Talk: Baby Chic’s Stefanie Laib

We caught Tarrytown’s newest shopkeeper at a bad time. After all the rain we’ve been having, the basement of the beautiful Victorian home that houses Baby Chic consignment was flooded. Although the shop was technically closed to deal with this, the phone was ringing, gently used goods kept arriving, customers came knocking, and you wouldn’t know this bustling store’s been open for all of a week and a few days.

So buy local and go say hello to...

Stefanie Laib, co-owner of 

1. I see that you’re a package deal. Who is this cute one hanging on you?

SL: This is Isabella, she’s eight months. It really is a Mom and Pop (and Dog and Baby) business. We’re all here. We did this because of her. My husband [Tony Hernandez] took a leave of absence from his job when she was born and never went back. The only way we wanted to have a baby is if one of us could stay at home, and now we’ve found a way for all of us to be together. We’re renting in Dobb’s Ferry but are looking to move here. It’s more family-oriented here, and as I’m socializing with all the new moms… But it’s hard to rent when you have a wolf [Bella, a Simoyed]. She’s a sled dog.

2. Has any merchandise gotten ruined in the basement?

SL: We have a huge basement but we like to have as much out in the store as possible. Thank God we didn’t have the consignment stuff on the floor; it’d be so horrible to have to call people and tell them we’re throwing out their stuff. Just our stuff down there; we can deal with that.

3. I see how this shop fits your life with the baby now but what happens when she outgrows the store – will you? And what’s your background that led you here?

SL: I’m from retail. I’ve been in retail since I started working at 18. This has been my life. As she’s growing, I’ll still get to see new babies. This will never get old.

I was the store manager for the T-Mobile flagship store in midtown for years; before that I was an agent for Ford models for kids. I would never do that to my child. I was in that business for five years and felt that they were exploited. The parents spend hours with these kids at these go-sees, torturing them basically; you can go through years of getting tiny things holding onto the hope of a big star. Not for me; I’m not knocking it but…

4. It smells good in here. What is that?

SL: It’s Pine-Sol from the basement! But we steam everything here. Even if we ask people to bring in clean things, we still steam everything. We needed a safe, clean environment for our daughter and we realized if that matters for us than it must matter to our customers.

5. Is consignment a sign of the times? Now how can we get people past this idea that they need to register for new stuff where there’s so much great used stuff for babies?

SL: Yes, thank you. This shop doesn’t feel “thrifty.” It feels pre-loved, gently used. I would say actually 50% of the stuff in here is new because you have so much you don’t even use and it’s past a return period or whatever. Bring it here! We are trying to choose stuff a little above the norm but not at designer prices. The prices are half the ticket price, or less. This is how we shop for our baby. Parents still need to save money and we offer value. The goal is get it out; we want to move stuff. 

Baby Chic, 38 S. Broadway, Tarrytown.