Rachel Minton Rosser, co-owner of the popular online baby and toddler boutique Daffodilly, has always had a love of fashion. “Before starting our shop, I assisted in managing a women’s boutique in Chicago, and the owner took me under her wing,” she explains. Together, Rosser and the store owner “went to market,” and Rosser was able to see the buying process for herself. Eager to learn, she quickly discovered what it took to own and operate a clothing store.
Rosser dreamed of having her own clothing store, but it wasn’t until much later that she knew what kind of garments she wanted to sell. After moving to St. Louis and meeting and falling in love with her now-husband, Rosser welcomed her first child in 2020: a baby boy. Then an interesting idea took root.
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With few shopping options around, Rosser noticed parents like her struggled to find places where they could buy cute baby boy clothes. She and her husband decided to create their own. “To be honest, when we started, I wasn’t sure we would ever start a physical store,” Rosser remembers.
But cut to the present, and Daffodilly has done so well that the couple recently decided to add a brick-and-mortar store in Webster Groves (8195 Big Bend). Plus, they were bursting at the seams in terms of product. “We were really starting to outgrow our basement,” Rosser says. They had enough product, so why not reach more customers?
Rosser knew that now was the time to try a new venture. “I kept telling my husband, ‘If we don’t do it, someone else will,’” she says. Not to mention, Rosser thinks that “a strong online presence is essential in today’s world,” so she was eager to take the leap into brick and mortar. “Starting online from nothing and being successful is, dare I say, harder than having a successful storefront,” Rosser says. “It took us time, energy, and so much effort to gain our customer base through social media, word-of-mouth, and pop-ups.”
Plus, shopping in person has its perks. “Shoppers who need to see and touch an item before buying it will have the chance,” Rosser says. “So many of our items are butter-soft—we’re looking at you, bamboo—and people really go crazy for it.” Being in person allows shoppers to avoid long product delivery times and afford the opportunity to pair clothing selections together as an outfit in person. Finally, there’s the shop’s edifice itself. “I think our website looks great, but our storefront is in this adorable house—truly just the cutest,” Rosser says.
The store carries practically everything a modern baby and toddler needs. There’s clothing, accessories, footie pajamas, sweatshirt rompers, muslin bibs, silicone teethers, board books…the list goes on.
Plus, there’s another reason for parents to stop in soon: “We have also added a lot of ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ items lately, or matching moments for baby and parent that have been incredibly popular,” Rosser says.
