Cordova store Babytime specializes in high-quality furniture that adapts to accommodate growing babies.

Mike Harvey, owner of Babytime in Cordova, has branched out with a new venture: The Chair Den. Babytime has been in operation since 1966.
(Photo: Lance Murphey)

So when owner Mike Harvey noticed customers were buying his line of nursery chairs for their living rooms and dens, he adapted his store to meet the growing demand.

Now he’s carving out a store within a store, The Chair Den, offering 15 models of American-made recliners and rockers in a section of Babytime’s 8,500-square-foot Trinity Road showroom and warehouse.

“What we discovered is, people will come and sit down in these chairs and really, they can go in any room in the house,” Harvey said. “It’s really taken on a life of its own.”

This past year sales of the chairs topped the same period from the previous year by triple-digit percentages and have helped level out some of the seasonality of the baby furniture, Harvey said. After two sluggish recession years, sales at Babytime are taking off again.

“This is our No. 1 strategy to grow in 2012,” he said.

Locally owned Babytime carries furniture, clothing, accessories and all-wood cribs from brands such as Creations, Bonavita, Baby’s Dream and Muniré that convert from crib to bed as babies grow. Harvey said many of his brands can’t be found anywhere else between Nashville and Little Rock.

The store began carrying its exclusive line of recliners made by Best Chair about five years ago. Made for the nursery but at home in the living room, styles range from the Jory, priced at about $500, to the top-of-the-line Irvington at $800. The chairs are available in more than 120 different fabrics.

The Chair Den is the latest evolution in a growth pattern that began when Harvey moved Babytime from Whitehaven to Cordova in 2006.

Founded in 1966 in Memphis, Babytime now is serving second- and third-generation mothers in some cases, Harvey said. He purchased the store in 2005 after his wife, then pregnant with their second child, began searching for better-quality baby furniture than what she could easily find in the area.

They found Babytime, and when Harvey noticed the family-run business was for sale, he jumped at the opportunity. Business has more than doubled since then, he said.

When the recession hit a couple of years ago, Harvey noticed that customers focused on price and started gravitating toward his lower-priced entry-level models.

These days, though, Harvey said mothers are mainly focused on quality and safety – none of Babytime’s brands have been affected by any of the recent crib recalls – and the fact that they can buy from a local store rather than a big-box chain.

While Harvey said he has no plans to branch off into full home furnishings, he’s happy to see customers choosing his chairs for more than just the nursery. And he said he’ll continue to adapt his store to a changing economy and consumer tastes.

“This was just a hidden gem,” he said, rocking back in one of his recliners. “Something that just evolved.”