Customers step forward to buy Elegant Mommy

Aug. 29, 2018

Elegant Mommy will remain open with new owners.

Shelly Gaddis announced plans earlier this month to close the maternity and baby retail shop, intending to focus instead on her family and Educated Mommy, a nonprofit organization that teaches skills to new parents.

The new owners of the business and building at 207 W. 37th St. next to Hy-Vee will be Lindsey Auch and Kelcey Smith. Gaddis will continue to run Educated Mommy out of the south end of the building.

Auch and Smith, each the mother of two children, have been customers at the shop for a few years, Gaddis said.

She had talked with a business broker about selling Elegant Mommy, which she opened almost a decade ago, but “my heart isn’t in it for the money. It’s about the community and bringing up the next generation of elegant mommies.”

Auch and Smith reached out to Gaddis after learning about her plans.

“When we found out that Elegant Mommy was closing, we were super devastated,” Auch  said in a video posted on Elegant Mommy’s Facebook page. “We contacted each other almost immediately.”

The two women plan to leave their full-time jobs to run the store, Gaddis said. The ownership transition is expected to happen in a few weeks, likely by Oct. 1.

The store will have a tent sale this weekend as planned, Gaddis said, because there are a few product lines that Auch and Smith won’t keep.

The two women will be at a lunch for the Elegant Mommy community from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday at the tent sale to meet people.

“We cannot wait to meet all of you and … to start the journey alongside you as parents,” Smith said in the video post.

Elegant Mommy to close

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Customers step forward to buy Elegant Mommy

Elegant Mommy, a maternity and baby retail shop, will remain open with new owners.

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