Leith baby boutique venture in its infancy

Major renovations have seen a traditional charity shop transformed into a stylish baby boutique, providing quality clothing and equipment – and a shop front for the work of Pregnancy Counselling & Care Scotland.

PCCS Baby Boutique, Great Junction Street, Leith

From the new-look store at 28 Great Junction Street, the charity hopes to encouraged more families in Edinburgh to donate, recycle and reuse, while offering essential children’s items at low prices and creating an access point for its support services.

“We see the shop as an extension of the work that we already do through our two free to access services; our professional counselling service and our Baby Bank,” says operations manager Juulia Karlstedt.

“The Baby Boutique is a new venture for us and we hope to be able to engage more with the community by bringing the focus of what we do – supporting families – into the most outward-facing part of our organisation.”

No single item of clothing in the shop costs more than £4 and some of its staple offers include ten baby grows for only £1. It also provides items like breast pads, nappies and toiletries by donation, to allow families to have them when they need them – regardless of ability to pay.

As part of its Hallowe’en special, the shop currently has costumes starting at £1 and will soon be offering a range of festive jumpers and attire, again starting at £1. Purchasers will also receive a free stuffed toy or teddy to take home in the lead-up to Christmas. Juulia adds: “Safety and quality are very important to us, especially when selling second-hand children’s items. As a result, we are currently working to achieve Revolve certification with Zero Waste Scotland so that customers can be guaranteed of the quality and safety of the items they are purchasing from us. We hope to complete this process in Spring 2020.”

If the Baby Boutique proves successful, a similar model could be implemented at the charity’s Gorgie Road store.