East Bay Baby

Completely off topic, but I hate it when people confuse “Wherefore” and “Where”, such as in that one radio commercial (I forget what it’s for because it just made me so angry) that references the line “Wherefore art thou Romeo?”. Isn’t Shakespeare still required in high school curricula these days? /End rant

Anyway…

I’ve been looking for baby stores in the area with a nice selection of items, where one can browse freely for unique gifts and such, someplace that is not Babies R Us.  When I lived in Daly City, I used to go to Lullaby Lane, which was a great baby “superstore” with a large furniture section (with gliders and cribs), a separate “outlet” store with items on clearance (mostly furniture), and a separate storefront dedicated to strollers, carseats, and stroller accessories.  Sure their prices were slightly higher than Amazon or other Internet retailers, but it was nice to be able to browse the products leisurely and hold them in your hand to really inspect them.  They also had a wide variety of baby carriers that you could try on.

However, now that I’m in the East Bay, I’ve had trouble finding a store quite like that.  In fact, it seems that there are no baby boutiques in the Fremont-Union City-Newark area, just Babies R Us, let alone a larger baby “superstore”.  (I’d be overjoyed if someone could correct me on this point).

So where should one go to browse baby items and to shop for unique gifts?  I’d like to solicit your help here!  Any input or suggestions you might have would be extremely helpful.

So far the only suggestions that I have are outside of the East Bay. I know Aletheia has shown me some great kids stores on Solano Ave. in Albany, so perhaps she’ll have some good suggestions for baby stores further up north in the East Bay.

I mentioned Lullaby Lane in San Bruno.  They have four separate storefronts, apparently, all located a few doors from each other on San Mateo Ave:

Lullaby Lane Baby Superstore
556 San Mateo Ave
San Bruno, CA 94066
(650)588-7644

Lullaby Lane Kids Toddler to Teen Furniture
532 San Mateo Ave
San Bruno, Ca 94066
(650)588-4791

Lullaby Lane Clearance
570 San Mateo Ave
San Bruno, CA 94066
(650)588-4878

Lullaby Lane Gear
568 San Mateo Ave
San Bruno, CA 94066
(650)588-7644

You can access their website for online shopping and information about their in-store events.

Another great store is Talbots Toyland in San Mateo. They have a great selection of toys, and some baby gear. They claim to have “4 stores under 1 roof – toy, hobby, baby, cyclery”.

Talbots Toyland
445 South B Street
San Mateo, CA 94401
(650)931-8100
M-Sat 9:30AM-6:00PM
Sun 11:00AM-5:00PM

I’ve also visited Baby Buzz in downtown Willow Glenn in San Jose. I hope to write up a fuller review in the near future.

Baby Buzz
1314 Lincoln Ave., #1A
San Jose, CA 95125
Mon closed
Tues-Sat 10:00AM-6:00PM
Sun 11:00AM-4:00PM