Popular Hamilton children’s store is on the move
Published June 9, 2021 at 12:50 pm
When looking to buy a unique gift for a child that can’t be found on Amazon or at Walmart, Hamilton-area residents flock to Citizen Kid on Locke Street.
By the end of July 2021, however, you won’t find Citizen Kid at its longtime location at the corner of Locke and Melbourne St.
Instead, you’ll find the children’s toy and gift shop up the road at its new location at 230 Locke St. South, next to LuLu & Lavigne Home Studio.
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Owner Rebecca Bamford found so much national success with her online shop during the pandemic that she now needs a bigger store in order to meet shipping and supply needs.
“We were in the middle of building our website and once COVID hit, we sped things up,” said Bamford. “It was originally intended to be more of a catalogue with a few items but because of COVID, it became our main source of sales.”
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Citizen Kid has been open for 12 years and serves those looking to buy kids’ products that can’t be found at the big box stores.
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“We sell things that are more exclusive; more specialty items that people haven’t seen before,” said Bamford. “There are no licensed products here.”
The products at Citizen Kid are curated by Bamford based on market research and relationships with suppliers.
“They know what I like at this point,” she added.
Citizen Kid also benefited from the social and political push to shop local as provincial stay-at-home orders led to the restriction of in-store shopping — which had a disproportionately negative effect on small to medium-sized businesses.
Citizen Kid is scheduled to open its doors at its new location in early August with the lease at the current location ending at the end of July.
