PopUp Kids started from a cardboard box. Not fancy, with a love for thrifting, and two pairs of baby shoes. It all started with selling my first baby's shoes (Mikayla - who is now 15). I sold them in the food court of the Tacoma Mall to another mom and the rest is history. I started to realize how much I enjoyed selling items, meeting other moms, and having a "side hustle" as I was a learning the ropes of motherhood. It grew organically from one cardboard box to the next.
I grew to selling items out of the back of my van at the Dairy Queen parking lot - meeting 10-20 moms at a time for them to rummage through the cardboard boxes of shoes. Over the next couple of years my passion continued to grow, and I dreamed about owning a store one day. An opportunity came to buy a shop and I thought this was IT, this was my dream. But after processing it over, we decided to turn down the opportunity... mainly because I wanted to be a mom and a shop owner and didn't know how to be both. I was stuck and didn't know what would be next.
One day I was driving and a thought popped into my mind about having a Pop Up Shop (this was before pop-ups were even a thing). I dreamed about popping up around the city at different locations and creating a following of other like-minded moms. That's when PopUp Kids officially went from a hobby to a business, 10 years ago (with three kiddos in tow)!
We popped up at different locations around the city, people's houses, and UPS Flea Markets. We then bought a house with a "She Shed" in the back yard to house PopUp Kids. For several years, people would make appointments and come shop out of my backyard shop - I could be a mom to my 4 babies at the time and run a business at the same time! The shop continued to grow and eventually we grew out of that space.
We then popped up once a month in between Curious Bear and Paper Luxe in Fircrest for about 6 months. That's when we knew that our little shop could support a brick and mortar, but a very unconventional one to say the least! We weren't going to be like every other business - we were going to rewrite what it meant to be a brick and mortar and to be a mom (now with 5 kiddos). I wanted a place where moms could work and be a mom at the same time without compromising. We created our current popup model, where we are open every other week and take Sundays, vacations and Holidays off to spend time with our families! We opened our store in March of 2020 - which we immediately pivoted to online orders with curbside pickup during Covid.
Over the last 6 years we've grown from one employee to 6, 5 kids to 8, and my husband eventually quit his job to come work with me handling all the back-end systems! Our shop has slowly expanded over the past 6 years, trying to use up every possible square inch of space! PopUp Kids continues to grow organically and you all are the reason we keep expanding and growing - to meet the needs of the community!
Over the last year, I've started to realize that PopUp Kids is more than a kid's thrift store - its a place where families can come together to build relationship and community! I can't wait to see what the next years have in store for all of us, and I'm so thankful for all of you! Here's to another 10 years! Come celebrate with us this week and enjoy treats, prizes, and lots of fun!
-Love Michelle (and the PopUp Kids Team)