Ukee Baby Boutique's First Annual Toy Drive

Angila and I are pictured above with the $800 worth of toys (and clothes in the bags) that were donated to local Ucluelet families in need this holiday. The support from the community, our friends, family members and local businesses was incredible! We raised $400 total and Ukee Baby Boutique matched the rest. Thanks to everyone who helped make this toy drive an astounding success!

Special thanks to Karla Strickland and Ornella Cirella for their organization and thoughtfulness

Thank you to the Donors...Tula Clothing, Thornton Motel, Pacific Rim Chiropractic, Abby Fortune, Lilia Sertic, Rita Petrie, Ruth and George Dahl, Ricki Kneifel, Ortrun Kneifel, Kat Williams, The Place TV, Ukee Bikes, and the many others who added to the in store donation jar and I am sorry to forget!......thank you so much!

Happy Holidays ~Hanna and Angila

Total Update

$395

This is with thanks to the community!
Thornton Motel
Rita Petrie
Lilia Sertic
Ukee Bikes

An many other donors who gave toys or money to the drive!!!!

Tomorrow is the last day to bring in a toy or donate
THANKS SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Totals

We are up to $305 dollars for the kids toy drive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Total

$195 is the tally today

thanks Hanna's Grandma!!!

Thanks for the Following

Local Business Donations

Pacific Rim Chiropractic

The Place TV

Abby Fortune

Keep it Coming!!

TOTAL $165

Online and In Store SALES

Toy Drive Total So Far......

$140

140 dollars in one week.....

keep it coming!

DONATE NOW!

Every Child Deserves a Safe Toy

Ukee Baby Boutique is offering you a chance to give a safe toy to kids in need.

We have set up a donation button to the left of the screen. Click it and you can fill in any amount you wish. All of the money given will be
used to give local children in need, some of whom will be spending Christmas at the local shelter, a special toy.

Hanna and Angila will post the amount given each week before Christmas. You can donate up until December 23rd. At this time we will take the toys to the Kids and tell them how much you all cared to give them a safe, lasting toy they can have as their very own. We hope you will make this a very merry christmas for some really special kids....

October Updates

Our store has been very busy this month!...We have been gearing up for Christmas...not forgetting about Halloween..we still have some costumes left...even rain coats to go underneath...cause you all know we need it!!!....Saturday will be an official countdown to Christmas!!!! We are setting out to make midnight madness a huge success..with lots of yummy treats and good sales for the Santa in everyone...

Two Stores, Two Hours. . . Too Much Fun!

Ukee Baby and Tula Clothing invite you to a special after hours shopping night!

Friday October 10th 7-9pm

Just for you and this night only at Ukee Baby and Tula Clothing 25% off all regular priced items!

Lots of fun things happening from make-up applications to winning awesome gift baskets and more!

The Float House Restaurant is also offering drink specials for any ladies who mention they were at Ukee Baby and Tula for Ladies Night!

Make it a GIRLS NIGHT OUT! You deserve it!

Stella!!!!!!!!!

This is one of our new dolls from Manhattan Toys..her name is Stella...she is sooooo soft and safe for kids to play with. Her soother comes on and off easily as it has a magnet inside of it!

Where has the time gone!

SO it has been a while since the last post!! So much to update you all on!..especially Hanna's Grandpa who checks this site faithfully!!!
Since August...
Hanna and I have both had a break while the other worked! So nice!!!...We have cleared out our summer stuff and brought in all the fall clothes, and new toys to fill the store for the holidays!!
Evabelle turned three years old!! She has been playing with her Plan Toys dollhouse and convertible car!...It's very very cool!!
We have had many new changes in the store....we introduced a new line of toys called Manhattan Toys..they have beautiful dolls and really neat creative toys for babies to five year olds..I am posting some pictures of what we have!!
We have also finally gotten the internet at the store!!! Woohoo!..this means we can soon have our store online for all our faraway friends and fans!!

Hanna and I also had the pleasure of travelling to the Mainland and shopping for our spring-summer 2009 line...and we are getting funky!!! Wait till you see the punk rocking onesies coming soon!!! and we are getting O'Neil for kids in as well!! surfer babies!!

SALE!!!

Summer Clearance Sale! Up to 50% off all summer clothes, swimsuits, water shoes, no zone, and so much more!!

Challenged

I have never been so challenged in my life...wait..in my working life..I have kids, I am challenged everyday... Building an online store is not for the weak, the frustrated, the normal human being. I fit into all the previous categories (i think)...I the past two weeks I have built and dismantled 3 full on stores..only to get to the final step and they only allow US currency shopping..not for us!..or you can only add one thing to the cart..sooo not good for business...and the one before the last had no technical support phone number...NONE! how do you call and ask "how the hell do I do this or that???" ..so i have a lot of charges and refunds on my credit card...but I didn't give up (advice to all. give up.hire someone....) and we have a sort of store online..but it is not full of all our wonderful stuff yet...it works if you are so inclined to shop!..but you will not get the total variety of things yet...I will be adding stuff everyday until we have shown you all we can!!!! We are soooo excited! so stay tuned as they say...
ang

Ukee Baby Goes Virtual

So, exciting news everyone! I hopped online last night to check out the state of our website and found somebody had been setting up online shopping! Ange has been battling with Yahoo, Paypal, Google and all of the above, hell bent to get us selling online. Its still in its infancy stages, and I am sure Ange is asking herself why she signed up for this, but its real- Ukee Baby will be able to sell online soon:) Or maybe a little later. . . stay tuned for more updates- and Ange's version from the trenches of cyber space.

I was across the street chatting with the other store owners..when this totally awesome car parked right out front of the store..I couldn't believe my luck, that I had actually brought the camera to work...so I ran over and introduced myself as the owner of the store they were parked in front of and could I snap a shot of their car...they agreed...

Wow

Thanks for the last post Hanna. You and me are gonna change this town...

It's great to be partners

Angila and I found out recently how valuable having a business partner really is. We both had small family emergencies that kept us away from our duties at the store. But no worries, we were able to cover for each other and not miss an open day. The store stayed open and we were able to each focus on our families:) Partnership is good!
On another note, summer it seems is just around the corner and things are picking up at Ukee Baby. . . we are getting ready for a fun filled summer with the locals and visitors perusing our baby wears. It's also reassuring to know that Angila and I won't be missing much of the nice Ukee summer weather (which if you live here you will know is in very short supply), when you have a business partner you only have to work 1/2 of the week! I think I am never going to find an end to the reasons for celebrating this partnership:)
~Hanna~

Glass Bottles are Here!

Nurture Pure 40z. and 8oz. Glass Bottles have arrived. They are available in 3 pack cases.

Its been a month!

Well its May, and Angila and I have made it through our first month of Ukee-Baby-Mania! Its been a very steep learning curve, and I am sure there is a lot more learning to come in the next year- right now we are trying to figure out our inventory tracking and accounting systems. . . But so far so good- with the odd glitch. Our play-date business meetings continue, although now they are conducted over dinners and Curious George instead of our original daytime tea (evenings are the only time one of us is not at the store). Ucluelet has been amazing and welcoming and I am so proud and glad to call this great West Coast Hideaway my home- even though it seems to consistently rain on my days off. Ange and I still both pinch ourselves when we walk into our store in the mornings, no its not a dream, yes we own a store! Thanks for following along with us on this crazy adventure from stay-at-home-mamas to baby-boutique-owners!
~Hanna~

CHEERS UKEE BABY

Though we will never end celebrating our store, we can finally say the grand opening, first day jitters are over...we have opened twice now, and both times were a huge success...with the odd glitch...I locked my keys in the store the night before the grand opening..which I was opening...so a trip (seems like a trip) from my house to hanna's in the morning somehow threw me for a loop...when I arrived to open, one of my helium balloons popped and scared a lady on the street and we both screamed..so I brought the balloons in...then of course my first customer (thankfully a friend, who also made the cake..) discovered a pricing glitch on swimsuits, and then the debit machine didn't work, because I accidently unplugged it....and this is only ten minutes into opening..I had called hanna three times by now...and then the ticker tape ran out..and so did my staples..I called hanna again...but told her not to come in until her scheduled time (a few hours later)...thankfully she reads minds and arrived in 20 minutes to rescue the store...and me...I think I just needed more coffee at this point....we were slammed all day...and thankfully had time for a staff meeting at 7pm including some celebration sushi and the rest of the cake...mmmmmm....

GRAND OPENING

The First Week

The First Week

Sorry no new picture to go with the story...We have completed the first week! yahoo!...We managed to get more press (picture to come)..and we have been very busy. Hanna and I have only lost power twice...but at least we have a float....We have been welcomed by the community with very high praise and compliments...many people have asked where were we two or three years ago!...and they all think the store is pretty (which really feels good considering the reno's)...now we are gearing up for the grand opening this Saturday (19th) with giveaways and other wonderful suprises..so hopefully I will get some new pictures then...I have also updated the website...
ang

Opening Day Preparations

DAY ONE

So I arrived at the store at 9:10am and Hanna was already inside vacuuming....so I lured her outside for a photo (coming soon)... and we were off...we were greeted by our first customers from Tofino..(who made the 1/2 hour drive!) and landed a crisp one dollar bill to frame(curtousy of my hubby who gave my friend from Tofino the bill to buy with)...thanks Krys and Jon... Hanna and I were doing well until our next customer handed us a 50 dollar bill...and simultaneously we both realized that we had no float...no money in the cash register, and not even a thought that we would need cash up until that point....cash in the till...so we had an emergency staff meeting under the counter (literally) and went through our wallets so as to appear prepared once we stood back up..luckily we made it...we then calmly gave change and called Jon to go to the bank asap....but spent the rest of the day in amazement that we forgot this major detail...but the store looked pretty!!! so that saved us...So many of our friends came down to support us ~with their kids who loved the play area..though one little one got stuck in the toy basket...she was eventually rescued after her mommy and me took pictures of her predicament...we also served up some yummy tea and enjoyed all of the mommy conversation that was buzzing about the store all day.....So thanks to all our dear friends, the local mommies, our children who miss us, our partners who love us, our parents who raised us and of course to Hanna I say thanks sister for walking through this crazy renovationed journey to boutiqueville....you rock!

It's Official!

Hanna and I got the signage today and actually had to turn a few customers away since we aren't open until 10:30 am saturday.....tomorrow...we are going in tonight to finalize everything and dust....we can't stay away.....more details tomorrow on how things go!!! thanks to all who made our dream possible!!!!

Are we Finally Done???

Ready to Shop?

Final Touches

Sign Says....

Saturday is the Day

No April Fool's Joke...We open this Saturday!....enjoy the pictures below to tease you a little as to what we have in store...we just got three new boxes of toys today.....

Just some teasers...