Anthony Bryant has been wanting for years to start his own retail shop and he believes he’s finally come up with a winner.
Bryant and his wife Nora are holding a kids dance party this Sunday at Blue Bones vintage. The occasion is to help their Indiegogo campaign raise money to open a Broad Street store, Little Nomad, which will cater to kids and modern parents.
“It’s kind of like [Carytown’s] Mongrel but in a kid/family version,” Bryant says.
The store plans to offer a little bit of everything from clothing and books to toys and little gifts as well as featuring local vendors. Their online campaign already has raised $3,348 (ten days in) and is hoping to reach $17,000. They’ve signed a letter of intent for the space at 104 W. Broad St.
Bryant has a retail background. He worked at Urban Outfitters for nine years and still works mornings at Ledbury as well as at the non-profit Robinson Theater in North Church Hill. He and his wife have a four-year-old, Devan, and a two-year-old, Myka.
“After having kids and trying to shop for kids in the city, I realized there was a void for this area,” he says. “We want this to be a place where all feel comfortable. I know we’ve had some in the past that didn’t feel accessible to everyone.”
Bryant started Little Nomad two years ago as a family travels blog, then it morphed into t-shirt making with a hip-hop feel.
“The overall vibe of Little Nomad is ‘Hey young world, the world is yours,’” he says, noting that the original idea behind the t-shirts was to generate money to start for the brick and mortar shop. You can check out their shirts online here.
Nora Bryant, an early childhood special educator, says she’s watched her husband take all the traditional routes to raise money without much success.
“While crowd funding feels a little uncomfortable for us, we decided to swallow our pride and reach out to our community, family and friends,” she says via e-mail.
Bryant, who is also a deejay, is trying to focus on the modern parent. He says the shop will have a clean, strong aesthetic that he’s learned from his years of retail.
At this weekend’s party, they’ll be having give-a-ways from local merchants. Bryant also is a mentor to an Art180 student and would love to offer training programs in the future for retail, or offer their space for community workshops.
“We’re really focused on having a relationship with our community as well as seeing Broad Street come back as far as retail is concerned,” he adds. “I’ve talked to plenty of people who still want to touch and feel. I don’t think brick and mortar on a local level is dead at all.”
The Kids Dance party goes down on Sunday, April 23 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Steady Sounds and Blue Bones Vintage space at 322 W. Broad St.
