Totally 4 Kids toys with full-priced, juvenile concept - Burlington Coat Factory's new concept store

Discount Store News, July 4, 1994

STERLING, VA. - Burlington Coat Factory turned its back on discounting when designing its new concept store, Totally 4 Kids, and instead opted for full-priced, specialty store lines of children's apparel and toys.

Burlington opened here last month in the Washington, D.C., metro market the first of five test units planned for 1994. Other announced sites for the new juvenile products concept are Jessup, Md., outside Baltimore, expected to open in August; and Coral Gables, Fla., with an opening by Labor Day.

All are in affluent markets that can support the upscale price structure of Totally 4 Kids. The Sterling unit of more than 50,000 sq. ft. is located in a former Hechinger Home Center store.

Apparel and toys each account for 20% to 25%, toys buyer Jeff Kaplan said. The rest of the offerings include everything for kids from infant through age 14.

Apparel offerings include 50 specialty store labels that Burlington Coat Factory stores don't carry, Kaplan said, including Monkey Ware, Rampage, Tickle Me, Pooch, San Francisco Blues, City Lights, Hedge Hog and Imp Originals.

A popular seller is a pair of toddler denim rompers, heavily trimmed with lace, from J.M. Originals and priced at $57. Denim shorts from Mickey & Co. were priced at $15.95 as was a toddler's T-shirt from J.M. Originals decorated with four, fake pearls.

Many price tags on apparel now include a high, manufacturer's suggested list price as a comparison with the store's selling price.

But Totally 4 Kids is dropping comparison price tags, Kaplan said. Far from discounting items, Totally 4 Kids will charge whatever the market will bear, Kaplan said.

Toys offerings include specialty store lines from Step 2, Brio and Playmobil.

Totally 4 Kids is trying to find a niche in educational and basic toys that Toys "R" Us doesn't cover, Kaplan said. Some overlap of basic toys from Tonka, Fisher-Price and Playskool is inevitable with Wal-Mart and TRU, Kaplan said, and on those items, Totally 4 Kids will price competitively. Other categories include: books, scientific equipment such as telescopes and games, furniture, juvenile products, maternity and gifts for expectant mothers.

Totally 4 Kids is set up around an interactive approach. Kaplan said. The books department contains a reading center, where kids can lounge on a carpeted floor and enjoy a storyteller at various times.

The 40-ft. section of educational computer software and games features both an Apple and an IBM computer, so youngsters can try out items before purchases are made.

Youngsters are encouraged to play on jungle gyms displayed outdoors and ride on trikes and wagons. In an IKEA-like feature, the store also offers a children's play area where kids can romp in bins of plastic balls. That means store associates have to be on duty at all times to guard against injuries, adding to the cost structure.

Another cost item is an events coordinator, who supervises free classes on such subjects as astronomy for children, vanishing wildlife, science and sing-alongs. The events coordinator also arranges for classes for expectant mothers. The scientific offerings include a $400 telescope. The classes are given in the store in a special classroom with fold-down bleacher seats.

Prices at Totally 4 Kids will be higher than at a regular Burlington Coat store because the new concept takes a service approach.

Among its amenities, Totally 4 Kids includes a room with three rockers where mothers can nurse their infants in privacy.

Burlington Coat Factory is making no attempt to associate itself with Totally 4 Kids, Kaplan said, although those in the trade, of course, know who owns the new store.