With Susanne Beck
Checking Out Onesies with the Team at Whitney +Winston
Even on the coldest, gloomiest days, a stop by Beacon Hill’s Whitney + Winston, a boutique children’s clothing shop at 113 Charles Street, can put a smile on your face. Who can resist pint sized onesies? Fuzzy stuffed animals? Or block books like “How to Babysit a Grandma?” Not salesperson Ellen Groustra who says without hesitation that the store is unquestionably “a happy place to be.” There are “so many things going on,” she chirps. “People having babies – is a very, very happy thing. People are excited. It’s new parents, it’s grandparents, it’s friends. It’s just a happy thing.”
Her colleague, veteran W+W team member Kara Weymouth, agrees, describing her favorite moments when prospective new parents come in looking for a special gift for themselves. “Occasionally a couple will come in and they’ll say, we just got our gender from the doctor. Can you look at the email or the envelope and do a gender reveal package for us”? She laughs as she recounts how nerve-racking the experience can be. “I’m so scared that I’ll hand it back and they’ll see it before they’re ready. But it is always incredible.”
Call it the retail equivalent of a maternity ward. But despite the small space – boxes of new items are inevitably piled up near the register as shipments arrive daily (“It is just not pretty” jokes Ellen) – better than good seems to describe everything at W+W. Thanks to the talents of manager Brianne Stief, the shop’s three large windows – two fronting Charles Street and the other turning onto Revere – burst with an everchanging array of colorful clothes and childhood favorites. ”We want to make sure that we’re adding some bright jolliness to the neighborhood, “Brianne explains. And with every refresh, which happens regularly, she strives to showcase the range of the store’s inventory, always making sure boys aren’t invisible, and that the window becomes more of an aspirational device than a catalog. Ellen is more straightforward. “She’s really, really a gifted doer, I can’t even count how many times people come in because they’ve seen something in the window.”
Stepping inside, it’s easy to see why. A quick browse through the racks and piles of good makes it clear that every piece is carefully selected to be of the high quality; the appeal of accessories is unquestionable, too. Kara and Ellen credit the store’s owners, Laura Ayers and Rebecca Hall, for the selection. “They’re the best. They’re just the best,” Ellen says, having seen it all after decades in the field. Kara concurs, admitting that every time a new seasonal shipment comes in, she has to restrain herself. “ I open the boxes and I’m like, I want this, I want this, I want this, I want this,” she laughs. “We have to save this for customers. “You’ve let them buy it first.”
More than the products, though, what clearly sets the tone of the store are the people who work there, each of whom go out of their way to the highlight the relationships they have built, with each other, with customers, the owners, and the Beacon Hill neighborhood. Both women describe their team with the word “family.” Kara adds some texture: “everyone’s so supportive, everyone’s close — I can’t imagine working at a big corporation.” Both are equally moved by the repeat customers, especially the neighborhood families whose children have grown up in the store. “We have so many repeat customers that their kids are growing up with us,” Kara says. “They come in and we’re like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe Susie and Jack are three and five now. That is really fun to be part of.” Ellen also loves the intimacy of being trusted with people’s private moments. “Someone comes in and you can just tell,” she sighs. “They say, ‘I just found out I was pregnant — I haven’t told anybody yet.’ And I’m like, ‘hey, your secret is safe,’” she adds with a laugh. “’Who am I telling?’”
And then there is the neighborhood itself. Listen to any of the W+W team talk and you realize that Beacon Hill has a degree of genuine human connection that the staff doesn’t find elsewhere. “There are other great pockets of the city,” Ellen notes. “I live in Coolidge Corner in Brookline, which I love. But there’s something just so nice about Beacon Hill. It’s just such a neighborhood.” Brianne adds her perspective as a former resident and small business owner. “There are very few true, community-centric neighborhoods in major cities. Beacon Hill itself feels like a very cozy neighborhood,” she says. “People rely on each other. The businesses rely on each other for friendship and support and ideas and resources in the same way that the residents rely on each other for those things.” As an example, she describes one her early days working for Laura and Rebecca when they were away. The owners of a neighboring business stopped in to check on her — a young new employee — just to see how her weekend was going at the shop. “That just says everything that you need to know about this neighborhood.”
Kara offers her own take. “Sean, the mailman, just retired and everyone had little parties for him up and down the street,” she says with a smile. “You really get to know people and form a connection with the neighbors and with regular customers. It has such an amazing home feel to it that I don’t think you get in other parts of the city.” With an audible sigh and a verbal wink, she can’t help but add: “I would love to live on Beacon Hill. I think it’s a little bit out of my price range — but you never know.”