Sweet Love & Sugar Britches • Round Rock

Sweet Love & Sugar Britches • Round Rock

Written by Amy Stansbury Friday, 06 June 2008

Julia Broadway needed a diaper bag and a nap mat for her 18-month-old daughter, Hannah, to take to mother’s day out classes.

Broadway was creative and somewhat crafty and her mother, Charlotte Brinkley, was a seamstress. So, together they made a cotton diaper bag and washable nap mat out of Winnie the Poo fabric that Hannah loved. The other moms loved it, too. And what started out as a few custom orders for fellow moms soon turned into a business.

“We used to do diaper bags completely custom,” she said. “It led to burp cloths, and we got different ideas rolling. Then we came up with the name [of the business], which were my nicknames for my daughters.”

Hannah, now seven years old, is Sugar Britches and Grace, 13, is Sweet Love.

Broadway and Brinkley started selling their handmade goods at shows such as the Georgetown Market Days show, the country peddlers shows in Fredericksburg, and even shows in towns as far away as Oklahoma City.

“What happened is we started going to all those shows and growing, and we realized, ‘Hey, this could work!’” Broadway said.

In 2002, two years after first making custom bags and mats for fellow moms at the mother’s day out, Broadway invested in a monogramming machine.

“We started monogramming, and it led to doing things for soccer teams,” Broadway said. “I was doing it out of my home, and it just took over my home.”

So, in 2006, Broadway and Brinkley began looking for locations to open a store, which is when the mother/daughter pair began also selling items they purchased wholesale at market.

“We looked at several places in Round Rock,” Broadway said, “It’s weird. We had looked at so many locations and we walked in and it just felt right. It felt like this is where I needed to be.”

Broadway said she needs to double the size of her store but so far has been unable to acquire additional square footage because the tenants on both sides are staying put. But she does not want to move because she thinks she is in a good spot.

“I feel like I’m in the best location I could be in for what I do,” she said. “I can’t be beside Target or Kohl’s because it’s too much competition directly. I have the traffic flow and the visibility, to some degree. And right next to Gymboree [Play & Music], how great is that.”

The people who shop at Sweet Love & Sugar Britches are typically mothers, grandmothers and aunts, Broadway said. The shop carries ladies’ clothes as well as newborn and toddler clothing up to size 6X.

“We also have gifts for girlfriends, like birthday gifts,” she said, “We get a lot of co-workers coming in, too.”

Almost anything sold at the store can be monogrammed and there is a large variety of custom goods available ranging from pillowcases and blankets to clothes. For example, customers can choose the fabric they want and have a blanket, pillow and bib made to match a nursery, Brinkley said.

“If a child is in love with Strawberry Shortcake, we can make a nap mat with that fabric,” Brinkley said.

Sweet Love & Sugar Britches hosts a ladies’ night at the store once a month, which includes storewide specials, drinks and appetizers, free gifts with a purchase and hourly door prizes. Customers can be added to the mailing list and receive a 20 percent off coupon, too. The next ladies’ night is from 5 to 8 p.m., June 13.

Boutique for babies to ladies

Nearly everything in the store can be monogrammed.

• For the babies:
  • Children’s aprons
  • Diaper bags
  • Personalized party hats
  • Diaper “cakes”
  • Custom t-shirts
  • Tooth fairy pillows
  • Personalized plates
  • Nap mats
  • Mommy and me outfits
  • Pillowcase dresses with ribbon straps
  • Bathing suits with matching cover-ups
• For the ladies:
  • Jewelry
  • Flip notes and pens
  • Wallets
  • Purses
  • Candles
  • Aprons
  • Kitchen towels
  • Bible covers
  • Custom mattes for picture frames
  • Finders keepers for keys
  • Makeup bags
  • Koozies
  • Cowhide and rhinestone flip flop sandals

Sweet Love & Sugar Britches, 2000 S. IH 35, Ste. A-5, Round Rock, TX, 255-6602

10 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday