Celebrating 25 years of Kidstuff and the families who made it possible
By Dorothy Tucker, Founder of Kidstuff Timaru
I never planned to open a shop
Twenty-five years ago, if you'd told me I would still be running a children's store on Stafford Street, I doubt I would have believed you. I had seven children at home—including twin boys who were only one year old—and absolutely no plans to start a business.
It kind of just happened.
A friend asked me to help out in her secondhand shop, called Not E Nuff. Then one day she decided she didn't want to carry on. I took over, changed the name to Kidstuff, and found myself wondering how on earth I was going to make it all work.
I don't remember having a grand vision. I remember deciding to give it my best shot.
With the twins so little and our other children to care for, Andrew became a full-time stay-at-home dad. That was a huge part of making it possible for me to give the shop a go. In those days we sold secondhand goods, including furniture and strollers. We moved to larger premises and I started hunting for things people might need or enjoy. It was a busy time for our family, but we found a way to make things work.
The shop was another world then. Sales were written down by hand. There were notebooks instead of computers, and customers came through the front door rather than placing orders on a website in the middle of the night.
Sometimes I wish I could show today's younger staff what that looked like! And I have to smile when I think how far we've come from a handwritten notebook to a business where an order can come in while we're all asleep.
One brand-new Bertini pram
If I had to choose one product that marked a turning point, it would be a brand-new Bertini pram. Before that I'd been selling secondhand strollers, so I was excited to have a beautiful new pram to offer.
Around the same time, Trade Me was becoming very popular. The way people bought and sold secondhand goods was changing, and it was clear we would need to change too.
I kept selling some secondhand furniture, but gradually brought in new lines: wooden toys, nursery furniture and other products for families. That first Bertini pram was the beginning of something much bigger than I realised.
What I discovered along the way was that I loved finding new stock. Not just filling shelves, but finding something special—something I could imagine a customer being delighted to take home. After 25 years, I still get that same excitement.
My daughters, and the next big step
In 2003, my daughter Danielle joined the business. We expanded into maternity clothing, which proved very popular, and developed our ranges of brand-new nursery furniture. Children's clothing, footwear, toys and gifts followed as Kidstuff continued to grow.
My fourth daughter, Kaitlyn, began helping after school and on weekends while Danielle was still with us. They worked alongside each other for a couple of years before Danielle left to start her own family. Kaitlyn stayed on, and she is still working with me today.
Working alongside my daughters has been one of the great joys of this whole journey. We've shared the everyday busyness, the difficult days and lots of laughter. Some of my favourite memories are of travelling to trade gift and toy fairs in Auckland and Australia, discovering new products, and catching up with friends and people from similar businesses.
I'd come home full of ideas—and then the cartons would start arriving. That's when the next challenge began: finding room for everything we'd ordered!
By 2008 we had outgrown our shops again, so we moved across the road to 170 Stafford Street, where we are today. We've continued adapting the space ever since. In recent years we've even opened up the wall into the shop next door, giving us room to expand our children's shoe range.
Shoes are something we really enjoy helping with. Finding the right fit matters, whether it's a first pair of walking shoes, school shoes or footwear for a special occasion. Over time we've also added dancewear, gymnastics leotards and dress-ups, along with all the other things families come looking for.
The range has changed enormously. The reason behind it hasn't: we try to find what our customers need, and a few things they didn't know they needed until they spotted them!
We don't always get everything right the first time. Sometimes a new idea takes off, and sometimes we have to rethink things. I've learnt not to be too frightened of changing direction. What matters is listening carefully to what people are asking for, learning as we go and keeping the shop interesting for the families who visit us.
The people who make the shop special
When I look back, the biggest reward has been the people we've met.
Our grandparents are some of our most loyal customers. I love helping them find the right birthday or Christmas gift, and I try to remember names, children's ages and things they've bought before. A perfect present isn't always the most expensive thing. It's the one that suits that particular child.
I've always enjoyed those little conversations at the counter: how old is the child, what are they interested in, what did they love last time? Sometimes it's a grandparent with a long list of birthdays to remember; sometimes it's a new mum who is unsure what she'll need. I don't expect people to know exactly what they're looking for when they come in. Helping them work it out is part of the pleasure.
One woman who comes to mind had seven sons. They're all grown up now, but she still shops with us. I think that's wonderful.
These days we're also starting to see the next generation. A young mum will walk into Kidstuff with her baby, and we'll discover that her own mother used to bring her into the shop when she was little. Those moments make 25 years feel real in a way that a date on the calendar never could.
And there are always new people discovering us. We meet first-time mums, grandparents and visitors to Timaru who come in and are surprised by just how much is tucked away inside. I love that reaction.
To me, Kidstuff is a bit of a treasure trove. Children wander from one thing to another, discovering dolls and their accessories, toys, dress-ups and all sorts of little treasures. Nothing makes me happier than hearing an excited child say, 'Wow!'
One child once asked, quite seriously, 'How much would it cost to buy the whole shop?'
Looking around at the shelves, I suppose it was a fair question!
I've always loved our beautiful dolls and accessories. If you came for a walk through the shop with me, that might be the first place I'd show you. But I'm excited about the new things too. Pokémon, squishy toys and sensory products have become favourites, and there's always another craze around the corner.
I still laugh when I put a new item on the shelf and the very next person buys it. It's as though our customers have a radar for anything new.
When everything goes wrong at once
There are days in retail that become family stories because, after enough time has passed, you can finally laugh about them.
We once spent a week renovating the store and prepared for a grand reopening. Everything was ready—except that both my full-time staff slept in on the big day. And, of course, it turned out to be one of the busiest days we'd ever had.
For the first few hours I was almost on my own, with a little help from my husband, who doesn't usually work in the shop. By the evening I was practically sleepwalking. We all laugh about it now, but I can assure you it wasn't particularly funny at the time!
Other challenges were much harder. Like so many businesses, we had to find new ways to work through the COVID pandemic. We wanted to keep looking after our customers even when the usual ways of doing things weren't possible. At one point Andrew was making local deliveries by bicycle to get orders to people. That's the sort of thing you do when you're determined to keep going and help where you can.
About seven years ago, I also had a period of illness that meant a long recovery away from the shop. I couldn't have managed without the wonderful staff who kept Kidstuff running during that time. Being able to return afterwards and carry on building the business meant a great deal to me.
Those experiences reminded me that a shop might have one owner's name attached to it, but it takes many people to keep the doors open. My husband, my family, my daughters, our staff and our customers have all played a part. I'm very grateful for that.
From notebooks to overnight orders
It's hard to explain just how much retail has changed in 25 years.
We started by writing purchases down by hand. Now we have computers, stock systems and a website that's open 24 hours a day to customers throughout New Zealand.
One of our twin sons, Josiah, also spent time working in the business when he was between law jobs. He was a whiz on the computers, which was a wonderful help as technology became such a big part of running the shop.
My first job after arriving and logging in each morning is what I call the treasure hunt: tracking down the items that have sold online overnight so we can take them off the shelves before the day's customers arrive.
It's quite a change from the days of paper notebooks. Sometimes I have to search around the shop to remember exactly where something is displayed. With the amount of stock we have, that's not always easy!
I spend much of my day at the front counter. Between customers, I'm uploading new products, placing orders and keeping an eye out for something else that might be worth adding to our range. There's never a shortage of things to do.
And I still love unpacking new stock, especially orders from a trade fair. Although when a whole pallet arrives, I sometimes want to hide. The staff know what it means: everything has to be checked, uploaded and displayed—and our shop is already pretty full.
Somehow we always find a spot. Mostly!
My family tease me about working too hard and taking work home until bedtime. They're not wrong. My idea of a perfect day is actually quite simple: a nice steady flow of happy customers finding what they came for, the to-do list under control, and no work to take home at the end. I haven't quite perfected that last part yet.
Twenty-five years, and still learning
I never imagined that a small opportunity to help a friend would lead to all this: bigger premises, new ranges, trade fairs, a website, wonderful staff, and generations of customers who feel like part of the Kidstuff story.
We've had our highs and lows. Keeping an independent business going through changes in shopping habits, difficult times in the community, COVID and my own illness hasn't always been easy. I work hard, I probably don't rest enough, and I'm always looking for the next best thing for our customers.
But I'm not one to give up.
If I could speak to the woman I was when I first took over that little secondhand shop, I'd tell her: 'Give it your best shot. Be open to change. Expect the unexpected. Love what you do, and turn up with a smile, even when life is difficult.'
I might also warn her about the number of boxes she'd eventually have to unpack!
Most importantly, I'd tell her that she wouldn't do it alone. I couldn't have reached this milestone without my husband and family, the daughters I've been so fortunate to work with, the great staff who have supported us, and the customers who have kept coming back.
To the grandparents who have shopped with us for years, the parents who came here as children, the little ones who walk through the door with wide eyes, and the families discovering us for the first time: thank you. Thank you for sharing your stories, trusting us to help with your special purchases and supporting a local business through so many changes.
I feel honoured that Kidstuff has made it through 25 years. I have no idea exactly what the future will hold—and if the past is anything to go by, there will be more changes and surprises ahead.
For now, I'll keep turning up, enjoying the people we meet, finding those lovely new treasures and doing my best to make each visit to Kidstuff a happy one.
And when the next pallet turns up, I expect I'll still be wondering where on earth we're going to put it.
With heartfelt thanks,
Dorothy Tucker
Founder, Kidstuff Timaru
