Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Cain.
Crunchy Boutique is owned and operated on a daily basis by Keema Echols, Lauren Echols-Cain and Brandon Echols. Crunchy Boutique is fortunate to also have the support of other family members. Altogether, any one of 7 family members may be found at Crunchy Boutique helping out in some way at any time.
Lauren is the inspiration for and face of Crunchy Boutique. When Lauren found out that she was expecting in early 2016, she knew almost immediately that she wanted to travel the natural parenting path. At that time, the most important things to Lauren and her husband, DeAndre was to have a home water birth, cloth diaper and breastfeed. Lauren and DeAndre had baby August in November and started cloth diapering and breastfeeding immediately.
It was apparent very early on that resources for natural parenting in the Arlington/Fort Worth area were non-existent. Lauren made several trips many miles away to purchase cloth diapers and for breastfeeding support. Lauren made each trip with her mother, Keema, and each time they would talk about how ridiculous it was that they had to travel so far for such simple things.
Keema has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and has owned many businesses. When people ask her about her entrepreneurial pursuits she always shares her philosophy as follows, “I just jump and hope the parachute works. Most of the time it does, but sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, I get up, dust myself off and keep it pushing.”
In February 2017 Lauren and Keema started discussing the idea of opening a natural parenting store in Arlington. The discussion quickly moved to planning. They found a location in April, solicited input from the community a few weeks later and had their grand opening in June.
Crunchy Boutique proudly wears the title of “new kid on the block” and as such they also take pride in NOT looking at what competitors are doing but blazing their own trail. They find much of their merchandise from local sources. They also look to social media for new and trendy merchandise. Crunchy Boutique focuses most of their marketing attention on social media. They develop new ways to engage their audience.
The response from the natural parenting community has been overwhelming. Everyone who walks through the doors is happy to see such a complete natural parenting resource in Arlington. Crunchy Boutique has also enjoyed a very loyal following of supporters on social media.
Because Crunchy Boutique is 1 of only 3 Black-owned natural parenting stores in the country and the only one in Texas, the support from the Black community has been resounding! It is because of this support that Crunchy Boutique decided to launch an online store. There was a definite need to offer products to customers nationwide. The online store will launch on August 1st.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We are only 6 weeks old at this point. We are learning a lot about the retail business. We are having to learn as we go along.
Please tell us about Crunchy Boutique.
We are a natural parenting store. We sell cloth diapers, baby carriers, breastfeeding supplies and other natural parenting items. We also offer classes and support groups such as birthing, breastfeeding, baby sign language, etc. We are most proud of the reception that we’ve received from the local natural parenting community.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1010 North Davis Dr.
- Website: www.crunchyboutique.net
- Phone: 682.323.5806
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crunchy_boutique/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrunchyBoutiqueTX/
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