The Boston Globe:
As Gloucester native Ann Andrew recalls, it didn’t take much for her to dream up Mommies Who Shop, the series of suburban shopping events and “play dates” for mothers that she launched two years ago.
A former director of merchandising at the now-defunct Sigrid Olsen who’d left her job in 2004 to become a stay-at-home mom, Andrew – creative, affable, and with a finely honed sense of fashion – tapped into two of her big loves, socializing and shopping.
“I think of it as an upscale girl nights out,” says Andrew, 40, the mother of three boys. “I wanted it to feel intimate, to be something that women could dress up and head out with their girlfriends to, and maybe go out to dinner afterward. It’s like a happy hour with shopping.”
Some of the best-known shopping events for women are aimed primarily at the young and single. Shecky’s Girls’ Night Out parties and StyleFixx events, often held in Boston’s South End, gather local vendors and national labels, selling everything from Spanx to handbags to hair products in one traveling bazaar. Mommies Who Shop nights aren’t much different – except they’re held in the suburbs and most of the vendors sell hip goods for kids. Also available: a little grown-up time.
“I have a couple of friends who are new moms and we meet up there. It’s a nice way to go out,” says Jennifer Stevenson, a mother of three in Beverly. “You get a glass of wine and shop around together. And [Ann] does such a good job of finding the unknown designer. I don’t have time to search the Web for the coolest things for my kids.”
Logo from Mommies Who Shop