New owner of Mama Goose shares future plans

In late August, Kelly Moreland, longtime owner of Mama Goose and Mimi’s Attic in Ithaca, announced that she had sold Mama Goose to Kelly Serbonich, owner of Jillian’s Drawers.

Under new leadership, Mama Goose will soon have a new location, along with Jillian’s Drawers, as the two will share a space by the end of the year. With the two businesses having a similar role and purpose in the community, Serbonich said it was a natural fit.

The two small-business owners share similar histories. Prior to coming to Ithaca, Serbonich lived in Florida and worked as a chef. She moved to Ithaca in 2004 and had her son just one year later, which created a desire for change.

“The world of cheffing is not necessarily a mom-friendly or family-friendly world where I could still be with my son,” Serbonich said. “I was like looking for a way to restructure my life as a single mom, especially so that I could do work with him around.”

In 2007, local mom Mandy Meidlinger created Jillian’s Drawers, and Serbonich became the owner’s first employee, working on the online cloth diaper store out of Meidlinger’s basement. Soon, Jillian’s Drawers had a small physical location on Cayuga Street, later moving to its current location on the Ithaca Commons and adding a community room.

In 2017, Serbonich took over ownership of Jillian’s Drawers. She described what it was like being with Jillian’s for so long and seeing the business change.

“What it kind of evolved into over the years has been a community hub for new parents especially,” she said. “We still have a real strong cloth diaper component to the business, but over time, we expanded to be helping people with things like nursing-related, breastfeeding support things, baby carriers, and natural and safe toys and feeding supplies.”

Moreland, similar to Serbonich, also moved to Ithaca in the early 2000s. In 2002, Moreland moved to Ithaca with her two young daughters, ages 1 and 4, and met fellow mom Michelle Stuhr at their children’s preschool. Both felt there was a need in the community for a children’s supplies resale store, so they joined together to launch Mama Goose, which opened in December of 2003 in a small store on the corner of Seneca and Plain streets.

Mama Goose grew quickly, expanding its offerings for families year after year. In 2006, after the arrival of Stuhr’s third child, Moreland took over as sole owner of Mama Goose, and two years later, Mama Goose outgrew its location and moved to its larger, current location at the corner of State and Corn streets.

Throughout Mama Goose’s history — and still today — the store has been a big hit among county residents, Moreland said.

“We tried to be as useful as we can be to the family by being broad and having large quantities of quality merchandise,” she said. “So, I really think it’s just kind of become an institution [where] Ithacans have just responded really well to it.”

Mama Goose, like most small businesses, had to quickly shut down in mid-March, and Moreland laid off all Mama Goose and Mimi’s Attic employees to stay afloat. The company operations manager stayed on to keep operations going, and both stores soon pivoted to remote and online sales.

In late April, one full-time team member from each store returned to work to serve the customers remotely. Both stores returned to in-store shopping by mid-June and have gradually resumed business as usual with some changes in procedures, Moreland said.

“We’re pretty much back to normal with the exception that we buy by appointment only now and quarantine the merchandise for 24 hours before it gets processed,” Moreland said. “Some of the intake systems have changed, and obviously, mask wearing and sanitizing are important now. But it’s kind of back to normal in many ways.”

Now, the latest chapter in Mama Goose’s story has begun, with Serbonich taking over last month. While the change happened just a few weeks ago, it was actually in the works long before the pandemic hit. Moreland said it was time to “pass the mantle,” particularly with Moreland owning both Mimi’s Attic and Mama Goose.

Moreland’s strong management team, coupled with her overall business model, told her that the transition would be a smooth one. But Moreland didn’t want to sell Mama Goose to just anyone; she wanted someone who had a good direction planned for the store, and Serbonich was that person.

Moreland said she was immediately drawn to Serbonich’s goals.

“When Kelly described her vision of combining the two stores, creating a hub with them side by side, it just sounded like the right change to happen now,” Moreland said. “It would be really convenient for Ithaca families. I think it would have a lasting power to continue to grow with that pairing. So, it seems like the next best step for Mama Goose.”

The ownership change was a good fit for Serbonich as well. As she explained, ever since she took over Jillian’s Drawers, she’s tried to find a way to make it a sustainable business model that could be replicated in other cities, finding the right combination of services that kept people coming in.

Mama Goose was Serbonich’s chance to expand on her goal, and the similar target demographic and popularity made Mama Goose and Jillian’s Drawers a great match.

“To be able to combine forces and take the best and strengths of both those businesses and bring them together seemed to make so much sense,” Serbonich said. “And both businesses have such a great reputation in the community. We knew people would be really excited to be able to just come to one store and get all the things that they need.”

Now that Serbonich has taken over, the next step is putting those plans into action. Both stores will move to a new location at 609 W. Clinton St. by the end of the year, with Mama Goose set to move first sometime this month.

Jillian’s Drawers will sell products for new parents from pregnancy and birth through 18 months, including cloth diapers, maternity clothes and infant toys and clothing. And Mama Goose will sell products for children from toddlers to teens, including clothing from size 18 months through size 14, toys, games, books and shoes.

The shared space also has a large room that will be converted into the aforementioned community room, with the projected opening in 2021. Both Mama Goose and Jillian’s Drawers will maintain their full staff at the new location.

Further details on buying policy, store credit, offerings and more can be found at Mama Goose’s website, mamagooseithaca.com.

So far, the change in ownership has been well received by the community and frequent customers of both businesses.

“The feedback we’ve gotten since announcing the change is super positive,” Serbonich said. “Everyone’s really excited, and both of these businesses exist and have been able to go on for so long because of our local customers just being so supportive. And it’s been really fun to formulate those relationships and now to have these people being so wonderful and supportive to us in these new changes.”

Moving forward, Serbonich said she’s excited for this change and the chance to create a new retail model.

“I really want to create something that is a model that other people and other communities can see; here’s a way to make this work,” she said. “Of course, we want to really be strong for our community, but I think that the bigger picture is that retail needs to go in this direction anyway in order to survive. And so, maybe what we’re doing here will inspire other people to be able to create other strong, local businesses, small businesses in their area.”

Meanwhile, Moreland will continue to own and run Mimi’s Attic and pursue the creation of an online blog focused on local food products and other topics.

“I’ll be interested to see what happens in my next chapter,” she said. “My kids are grown, and it’s time to evolve and change.”