Derbyshire mumpreneur creates biggest baby store in Midlands

Kelly Carter, who owns the Little Angels superstore, in Prospect Street, Radford, Nottingham, has rented the premises next door - expanding her business from 5,000 sq ft to 15,000 sq ft.

And the mum-of-two has achieved a mammoth challenge by completing refurbishment on the disused unit by today - in time for her 35th birthday!

She had lost her mum around the time of her 30th birthday and Kelly said she wanted to replace those sad memories with something more positive.

The move means Little Angels is adding three new members of staff - taking the total to eight shop staff and five employees at its Ilkeston-based warehouse.

Kelly, from Ilkeston, said the unit owner, who she used to share a car park with, asked if she wanted to take the premises off his hands, so she had a look inside.

“It’s an absolutely beautiful building - about 200 years old - and it’s got really stunning period windows and high ceilings,” said Kelly, who is married to Terry, 44, and is mum to Owen, nine, and 12-year-old Connor.

“I was filled with joy and horror at the same time. First of all, I could see its potential, but second of all, it was scary as hell because the roof needed repairing and the place needed gutting. It looked like an absolutely massive job.

“Everyone, including my husband and suppliers, who has seen the scale of the project, has been laughing at me and all have said it’s impossible to turn this around in eight weeks. But I’ll be the one having the last laugh.”

But now, determined Kelly - who hopes the shop will provide everything a parent could need - has ensured the extended store opens on time.

She has been doing a lot of the renovation herself, spending all of her spare time shaping the unit into her vision. The extended store will soon include a bespoke jogging track - for testing out jogging pushchairs.

“There’s a massive market for jogging and all-terrain pushchairs at the moment and I could see a gap in the market locally,” explained Kelly.

This section, named Double Trouble, will feature a range of double pushchairs, all-terrains and a graffiti wall displaying designs by Radford graffiti artist Kaption1, who created the images on the wall outside Little Angels.

Kelly is also hanging vintage pushchairs, which she has bought from an antique shop, from the ceiling and there is also a selfie area, complete with a throne, and grandparents’ quotes emblazoning the walls.

Later on, a cafe will be added to the extension at some point. Other features of the store include more car seats and a demo rig, breast-feeding area, customer toilets and, for the first time, Kelly is able to provide full nursery furniture sets, with 16 on display. She is also increasing her range of ‘next2me’ cribs and extending the number of pushchairs on show.

Little Angels will be adding the Mee-go brand to its repertoire of stockists, and now has enough space to display all of the colours in each pushchair stocked - which Kelly believes is the only baby store in the Midlands to do so.

Little Angels’ extension is launching today, ahead of an official five-day opening event. The extended opening event will feature lots of offers, fizz and cakes, along with drinks for pregnant customers.

Busy Kelly joked that her plans beyond opening the in-store cafe “require rest for a good while”.