Lullaby Lane's Last Day Draws a Crowd

All day, a jostling crowd at Lullaby Lane rummaged and bought, taking advantage of rock-bottom prices that plummeted due to the store's closure.

Today, after 64 years, the San Mateo Avenue purveyor of baby clothes and furniture rang up its last purchases. The community response to a store that offered classes for new mothers  was so overwhelming that moving through the crowd made for slow going.

"I primarily shopped here for the baby stuff: equipment, baby clothes," said Cindy Young, who said she had been a customer for more than seven years. "They always had high quality baby clothes. The other stores never had the high quality stuff that Lullaby Lane had here."

Visitors to the store's website found a message from owner Barry Gevertz, whose parents Rosalie and Harold Gevertz opened the story in 1947. The message describes the obstacles the retailer faced to stay in business, including the proliferation of online and big-box competitors.

"The last several years have proven extremely challenging to our business," the message says. "The downturn in the economy, the increase in internet shopping, Craigslist, eBay, and the growing competition from 'big box' stores have negatively impacted our retail business."

Longtime employee Mike Mitchell said he hoped to remain in the baby business.

"Lullaby lane closing is kind of sad, because I spent 25 years here and helped all the customers," he said. "It was a fun job and I'm going to miss it."

Dressers, cribs, baby clothes and even exit signs sold at clearance prices, and employees of Lullaby Lane moved at breakneck pace to keep up with the demand. But not every loyal customer chose to take advantage of the good buys, said 11-year employee Charlene Gamble.

"I have taken phone calls today from people just calling me to say thank you for our service to the community and for all that Lullaby Lane has done for their generations of family and babies,"  she said.

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