BizBeat: Online children's boutique officially launches

<p>Submitted</p><p>Jefferson City natives Alicia Woods and Mackenzie Lochhead recently launched Littles + Company, an online children’s boutique based in Jefferson City and Kansas City.</p>

Submitted

Jefferson City natives Alicia Woods and Mackenzie Lochhead recently launched Littles + Company, an online children’s boutique based in Jefferson City and Kansas City.

Two Jefferson City natives have launched a new online children's boutique, aiming to serve Mid-Missouri and Kansas City areas.

Mackenzie Lochhead and Alicia Woods are running Littles + Company LLC, which offers infant and toddler clothing and accessories in sizes up to 5T from designer children's clothing brands specially selected by the pair. Lochhead and Woods are sisters-in-law who graduated from Jefferson City High School and are mothers of young boys.

"Our dream has always been to do some type of boutique," Lochhead said. "We thought bringing a children's boutique to Jeff City would be best cause there's nothing like it."

The ultimate goal of the shop is also one of the driving forces behind it: to offer as much, if not more, clothing items for boys as there are for girls. Lochhead said she and Woods have found selections for infant and toddler boys to be more limited than what's available for girls, which has been a frustration.

"We know the struggle of trying to find boy clothing," Lochhead said.

And that struggle has continued in the online boutique, which officially launched about two weeks ago. Lochhead said even finding selections from manufacturers to carry in the boutique has been difficult when it comes to boys.

"That's been a tough thing to run into," she said.

Woods said the pair has future plans for the boutique as it grows, including adding some type of physical presence, whether it's a brick-and-mortar store or a mobile boutique, which could better serve their target communities. Woods is now living in Kansas City, while Lochhead is in Jefferson City, which is why those two areas are the primary focus of the boutique.

As the boutique grows, they hope to grow their selection as well. Woods said they hope to be able to offer more choices for older children, noting they'll likely cap it at pre-teen.

But those are all possibilities for the future, and right now, the pair is trying to keep focused on the existing online boutique.

"We have goals. It's hard being patient, but we're trying really hard," Lochhead said.

To check out the boutique, visit littlesandcompanyllc.com.

Know of any business happenings around Jefferson City? Let us know at [email protected].