Basking Ridge Moms Open Fun, Unique Children's Boutique

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — When Basking Ridge moms and sisters Desiree Mazzarese and Stephanie Ossorio had trouble finding fun and unique clothing for their kids they teamed up to open LuLu Kids Style.

"We always kind of talked about doing our own thing together. We have kids the same age and we found it was hard to find items or clothes for our kids that were different and more fun," said Mazzarese. "Our taste is more bright colors and funky… so when we started looking around there wasn't anything. We said, 'Why don't we try to open our own little thing?'"

The pair opened LuLu Kids at the end of March as a pop-up at 31 South Finley Ave, inside Mazzarese's store The Guest House. The response was so great, that they decided to make it a permanent addition to the store.

The moms have children ranging in age from 9 to 2 so wanted to offer a place in town where people could stop in to find a cute outfit or a unique gift without having to drive miles out of the area.

LuLu Kids offers items and clothing for kids ages 2 through 16 with a collection of brands for toddlers and another set for tweens.

"We have one specific brand Suburban Riot for tweens that has clever things on the t-shirts and are fun and interactive," said Ossorio. "We also have cute dresses and leisurewear for toddlers and kids."

Specifically, as moms of boys, Ossorio noted how hard it was to find clothing for boys.

"That was a priority for our store, to have fun pieces for boys," said Ossorio. "We want it to be comfortable because they are active but not sweatpants and sweatshirts. Instead, it is something stylish such as a terrycloth not just a plain tee."

Along with clothing, the store offers stationery, accessories, glitter pens, pencils, markers, notebooks, stickers, pins for bookbags, and more.

The sisters have high hopes for the store which they named after their own mom.

"It was a term my mom would call myself, sister, and brother. It is a term of endearment," said Mazzarese. "We all stuck to it pretty much, I call all my kids 'LuLus'."

"The name reminds us of her... and all of her hard work," said Ossorio. "We wanted to give her a tip to the hat. Let her know we remember all that sweet stuff,"

LuLu Kids also has clothing and merchandise available for sale online. For more information visit lulukids.style.

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