Hand-me-down Heaven
Couple Opens a Boutique in Santa Fe Featuring New, Used Baby Items
Finding 500 pieces of good-quality baby clothing was the sign from heaven that Miranda Linson was looking for one Friday in July.
Linson and her husband, J.C. Linson, were ready to sign a lease on a commercial space so they could open their new business, Boomerang Baby, but Linson was experiencing last-minute nerves.
“I was a stay-at-home mom and knew I’d be disrupting my children’s lives,” she said. “As I was driving around town one day and saw a garage sale that had beautiful baby clothes, I knew that everything was falling into place.”
Linson negotiated a price for all 500 items and added them to her own stash of baby clothes, games, toys and furniture. With a bundle of goods ready to sell, she and her husband, who is a real estate broker with Santa Fe Realty Partners, made a deal to lease the building next to Baskin Robbins on Cerrillos Road. It’s the former home of Santa Fe Music & Piano, which moved its operations to DeVargas Center.
“We had thought about opening up a store that sells new and used children’s clothing and accessories for years, but we didn’t start talking about it seriously until July 1,” Linson explained. “We signed the lease during the third week of July and opened our doors on Aug. 8.”
The store’s name came out of a brainstorming session. “We were thinking about the golden rule and how what goes around, comes around,” Linson said. “That’s when we thought of the name boomerang.”
Boomerang Baby sells a wide variety of items for newborns, toddlers and elementary-age kids at half, or less than half, the price of new items. With 2,500 square feet of retail space, the store has areas dedicated to different types of goods. There’s a section for strollers, one for car seats, and another for cribs. In addition to plenty of everyday clothes, Boomerang Baby sells Fiesta dresses and ballerina tutus.
“We check the prices of goods at online stores like Target and also at eBay, so we can be sure we’re pricing our items reasonably,” Linson said. “We’ve got a really nice used stroller, that retails for about $425, priced at $279. We’ve also got strollers for around $35.”
Infant shirts cost anywhere from $1.99 to $3.99. Linson looks over each item of clothing carefully, making sure that everything she sells is stain-free and without holes. If an item in great condition has a small imperfection, she makes a color-coded note on the tag and shows the customer the imperfection before the purchase is made. A green tag means the item is from a brand-name company. A blue sticker means it’s new.
Area residents, like Jessica Lujan from Pojoaque, have sold used baby clothes to the store or have chosen to receive store credit for their merchandise. “I have so many clothes,” Lujan said during a recent visit to Boomerang Baby. “I got a train table for my two boys with my store credit.”
This is the first business venture for the Linsons, who grew up in town and knew each other in high school. J.C. Linson graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1995 and was a champion professional boxer in the welterweight division. After he became bored with boxing, he studied criminal justice at Santa Fe Community College and served as a deputy sheriff for Santa Fe County. He became a Realtor six years ago.
A 1997 graduate from Santa Fe High, Miranda Linson moved to Boulder, Colo., and got a job as a bartender. She returned to Santa Fe several years later and took a job at a local mortgage company. The couple married in 2004 and gave birth to their first child, Juliana, three years ago. Their son, Isaac, is 1 year old.
To keep the children close to Linson while she works, the couple transformed one of the store’s small rooms into a cozy play area with toys, a rocking chair, books and a refrigerator packed with beverages and snacks.
J.C. Linson is designing his work schedule around store hours so he can help out as much as he can. The couple’s parents and extended family members are pitching in as well. “We could not have done any of this without them,” Linson said. “They have helped financially but also with their time, which is the most valuable gift anyone can give. We are so grateful to them.”
Boomerang Baby
WHAT: Shop with new and used clothing, supplies and toys for babies and children
WHERE: 1845 Cerrillos Road
HOURS: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday
CALL: 984-BABY
