The furniture, decoration, and children's toy store, and childcare items store Abitare Kids, which for 20 years has been located on Gran Via, has moved to a larger space, at number 125 Roger de Llúria street, just below Diagonal Avenue. In this new Eixample location, more than 750 square meters house a surprising exhibition of everything a child may need, from birth until 8 years old.
Wood distinguishes the furniture displayed for each stage of childhood growth and, among the different brands available in the establishment, its own stands out: the Wookids brand. "These are furniture designed in Germany and manufactured in Czechia with solid wood, always conceived as a playful and educational component of children's rooms. The beds, for example, transform to adapt from one and a half years to six years of the child," explains the general director of Abitare Kids stores, Cristina Escudé.
In addition to Barcelona, the firm has stores in Terrassa, in Khöln (Germany) and in Junglinster (Luxembourg). But the one in the Catalan capital has now become "the largest boutique store in Europe for babies and children," according to Escudé, who has been in the sector for more than 50 years. The family business that her mother started focused from its beginning on the needs of the child public. They attended international toy fairs for the first stages of life and childcare articles and, while Cristina's sister, Judit, was in charge of distribution, she was in charge of the stores, in Terrassa and Barcelona.
And, from distributing the exclusive Hape wooden toys, another family-owned firm in Germany with more than 20 years of history, the Escudé sisters went on to create a new company with said German company that would thus provide much more commercial muscle to their stores. They began to introduce into them, in addition to toys, furniture and childcare articles, with an extraordinary offer that allowed them to begin to establish themselves in the world of baby registries as a service to families who thus prepare everything they need for the arrival of their newborns.
They are decorative items and comforts that facilitate life in a home with babies and young children. In the new Abitare Kids store in the Eixample, 15,000 items from more than a hundred internationally recognized quality brands are displayed in a pleasant space, an excellent rehabilitation of what was once a wine cellar. It is a centenary establishment in the Eixample, with a very special atmosphere, whose renovation has maintained its original spirit, with its original stone walls, hydraulic floor, and iron beams. The large windows facing the street allow one to get an idea of everything that awaits inside.
The new Abitare Kids store has 18 employees. Its annual turnover, until now on Gran Via, has been around three million euros. The owning company is 70% owned by Hakids, a joint firm of Pierre Friob, owner of the Abitare Kids store in Luxembourg, and Peter Handstein, founder of the Hape company. The remaining 30% belongs to Barrutoys, the company of the Escudé sisters. They have invested 2.1 million euros in their new retail space project in the heart of Barcelona's Eixample.
Designs from international brands are distributed on the street-level floor. In the stroller sector, there are Cybex, Stokke, Bugaboo, Joolz, and Babyzen, alternating with decorative and useful elements for child development with items from the brands Beaba and Avent. Also from Nobodinoz, which designs and produces all its textile products in Barcelona, and manufactures all the rest elsewhere in Europe. Abitare Kids selects companies that align with its own philosophy, which involves knowing where each product comes from, that they comply with all European safety standards and are free of varnishes and products harmful to the health of children. Also, that respect for the environment is ensured in their manufacturing process.
On the lower floor of the new store in the Eixample, you can acquire in situ a careful variety of childcare items, furniture, strollers, chairs, toys, and decorative elements from prestigious Scandinavian brands such as Flexa, located in Palo Alto (California), and Lifetime, the company that was born in a garage in Riverdale (Utah), where a father set out to build a basketball hoop for his family garden. His innovative talent led him to create in 1986 a brand distinguished by the durability of its productions. The story of Lifetime is reminiscent of that of the Barcelona rug firm Lorena Canals, which its founder also started in her home garage, trying to design a rug for her young daughters that could be washed at home, and which she had not been able to find on the market. Once she had it made, she realized that she could export her washable and ecological rugs all over the world, thus giving rise to the company that bears her name.
Prioritizing ecology
In addition to paying meticulous attention to the traceability of each item it introduces into its store, to ensure it complies with everything that constitutes a safe childhood while protecting nature, Abitare Kids promotes recycling. "When you buy a Kera solid ash crib, we offer the possibility of returning it after having used it, for a maximum of three years, to be recycled. Upon return, we give a €500 voucher for a future purchase of the brand," explains Cristina Escudé.
Abitare Kids furniture, in addition to being mostly made with wood and other sustainable materials, and adapting to the precise needs of each childhood stage, is inspired by the playful and educational aspects of children. This applies to cribs, beds, wardrobes, bedside tables, desks, and all auxiliary furniture.
The great variety, but above all, a selective choice among the most admired brands in the international field of childcare, make the Abitare Kids store in Barcelona's Eixample a showcase of the most innovative, safe and sustainable for children. High chairs, playpens, baby safety items, feeding and resting products, everything related to bathing, strollers, travel items and decoration and textile accessories can be found in the Barcelona store. The baby car seat that incorporates the first individual airbag for the child seat stands out.
In the advice given by the store staff, it is clear that it is the establishment of a family business dedicated to the world of babies and children for more than 50 years, due to their professionalism, mastery of the subject and very close personal treatment.
Games and entertainment items for babies, and boys and girls up to 8 years old, all have a playful and pedagogical component, in addition to being very innovative and avant-garde. Accompanying the development of children, facilitating their upbringing for parents, is in the DNA of everything that can be acquired at Abitare Kids. The 15,000 items in their catalog and the advice of their specialized staff allow all the needs of parents, first-time or not, to be met. And, both in the physical store and through the website, a birth list can be created to better organize gifts from family and friends for the arrival of a son or daughter.