Meet the Maker: Balboa Baby LLC


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In This Issue: Feature: The Art of Running a Sale Did You Know: Including Technology in Your Retail Business Meet the Maker: Balboa Baby LLC Trade Show Info: Latest News about Juvenile Product Trade Shows Baby Buzz: Product News & Press Releases from the Juvenile Product Industry Also See: Product Update Pages Highlights for the Next Issue of Baby Shop Magazine Baby Shop and eBabyShop Archives	Meet the Maker: Balboa Baby LLC Juvenile products are for families with children, but it’s nice to know too that some of the most successful companies in the industry are family run businesses. Balboa Baby LLC is a classic example. Shirley Pepys and a partner founded juvenile bedding and accessories company Noel Joanna, Inc., “NoJo”, named after each of their children, and created the Dr. Sears Original Babysling and the first coordinated nursery products. Shirley steadily grew the company as she grew her family and, with a mom’s unique perspective on business, became very successful, including president of the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association (“JPMA”). Eventually she sold NoJo to a New York Stock Exchange corporation. Later on, in 1998, she was the inspiration for her daughter, Renee Pepys Lowe, to start CoCaLo which is named after Renee’s children, to manufacture infant bedding and accessories. Today CoCaLo is one of the fastest growing infant bedding companies, exemplifying the family philosophy of combining style with function in new ways that meet the needs of mothers everywhere. At this May’s JPMA show in Orlando, Shirley was in the CoCaLo booth when she ran into an old distributor friend from Japan, Mr. Sakanishi. He told the story of how the knit sling was developed by a 92 year-old gentleman who had been in the knitting business for many years and who had seen a Mom struggling to get their baby in a carrier at a restaurant. He decided to put his knitting expertise to work. Mr. Sakanishi had done a great job in the old days for NoJo, but the timing just wasn’t right for CoCaLo to be interested in selling his new technology baby sling product…but it clicked with Shirley. Her son Noel had grown up in the industry and had been looking for a company to buy or an opportunity for a start-up business. His back ground at high end knits designer St. John Knits, and work in the fulfillment end of another family printing business, had convinced him that he was ready to try it on his own. Noel and Shirley decided to combine her 30 years of juvenile products savvy with his energy, knowledge of information technology and management ability and so Balboa Baby LLC was born. The Pepys family also had a long time relationship with Dr. Sears, a leading pediatrician, baby book author and television personality, so it was a natural to include Dr. Sears. Before long Balboa Baby was ready to go to the marketplace with three exciting new Serene Sling designs priced from $49 to $129. True to the family credo, this company is for the benefit of moms everywhere. For further information call (949) 200-7541 or email getdebbie@cox.net.

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Highlights for the Next Issue of Baby Shop Magazine

Juvenile products are for families with children, but it’s nice to know too that some of the most successful companies in the industry are family run businesses. Balboa Baby LLC is a classic example.

Shirley Pepys and a partner founded juvenile bedding and accessories company Noel Joanna, Inc., “NoJo”, named after each of their children, and created the Dr. Sears Original Babysling and the first coordinated nursery products. Shirley steadily grew the company as she grew her family and, with a mom’s unique perspective on business, became very successful, including president of the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association (“JPMA”). Eventually she sold NoJo to a New York Stock Exchange corporation. Later on, in 1998, she was the inspiration for her daughter, Renee Pepys Lowe, to start CoCaLo which is named after Renee’s children, to manufacture infant bedding and accessories. Today CoCaLo is one of the fastest growing infant bedding companies, exemplifying the family philosophy of combining style with function in new ways that meet the needs of mothers everywhere.

At this May’s JPMA show in Orlando, Shirley was in the CoCaLo booth when she ran into an old distributor friend from Japan, Mr. Sakanishi. He told the story of how the knit sling was developed by a 92 year-old gentleman who had been in the knitting business for many years and who had seen a Mom struggling to get their baby in a carrier at a restaurant. He decided to put his knitting expertise to work. Mr. Sakanishi had done a great job in the old days for NoJo, but the timing just wasn’t right for CoCaLo to be interested in selling his new technology baby sling product…but it clicked with Shirley.

Her son Noel had grown up in the industry and had been looking for a company to buy or an opportunity for a start-up business. His back ground at high end knits designer St. John Knits, and work in the fulfillment end of another family printing business, had convinced him that he was ready to try it on his own. Noel and Shirley decided to combine her 30 years of juvenile products savvy with his energy, knowledge of information technology and management ability and so Balboa Baby LLC was born.

The Pepys family also had a long time relationship with Dr. Sears, a leading pediatrician, baby book author and television personality, so it was a natural to include Dr. Sears. Before long Balboa Baby was ready to go to the marketplace with three exciting new Serene Sling designs priced from $49 to $129. True to the family credo, this company is for the benefit of moms everywhere.

For further information call (949) 200-7541 or email getdebbie@cox.net.