‘Smiley babies’, ‘cute kids’ make boutique ownership in downtown Lee’s Summit a joy

Some have to travel far to find unique clothes, stuffed animals and other gifts for babies and children. Parents and grandparents of young kids have it made in Lee’s Summit. Two children’s boutique stores have recently opened downtown: Lil’ Miss Miley’s Baby Boutique opened in August, with the Purple Hippopotamus launching in September.

Business owners Beth Milam of Lil’ Miss Miley’s and Andee Carr of the Purple Hippopotamus took different paths to store ownership, but both enjoy serving young families.

“You get the smiley babies and the cute kids who walk by and say ‘hi’ and the kids who hug your clothes because they love it so much,” Milam said. “It’s very rewarding to see all the children and know that the parents are happy with the clothes. And I get to play with babies. You can’t beat it.”

Carr said she loves cheering on the young moms who come into the shop.

“My favorite part is being here and seeing the littles all the time,” said Carr, who has five grown children.

She previously worked as a teacher, and offered private music lessons. But she has fond memories of her experience in the kids clothing world many years ago.

“When I was a teenager, my best friend’s mom had a clothing store,” she said. “She let us work there and took us to market and I loved, loved it.”

Milam, the mother of two grown children, had worked in medical billing for 35 years and was ready for a change.

“Dealing with insurance companies and doctors and patients having to put forth money on unexpected medical expenses doesn’t always equate with happy people,” she said. “But when it comes to baby clothes, everybody is happy.”

With the birth of her first grandchild in December 2022, she remembered how much she loved shopping for baby clothes, she said.

Lil’ Miss Miley’s offers clothes spanning infants to size 8.

“I stopped there because I figured by the time they get beyond that size, the kids have opinions — and what we want them to wear doesn’t always work out,” Milam said.

One unique aspect of Lil’ Miss Miley’s is its selection of sibling sets, including matching boy-girl versions of the same outfit, as well as an emphasis on a wide selection for both boys and girls.

“A lot of baby boutiques specialize and trend toward girls because it is so much easier to find girl clothes,” Milam added.

The Purple Hippopotamus features clothing spanning infant to 5T. It also offers community classes for young children, including regular music sessions for kids from 9 months to age 5.

Other classes vary from month to month. February examples include a read-aloud with a therapy dog and a sewing class for a tooth-fairy pillow, as well as a family journaling evening just for adults.

“The classes are all parent-child, so it’s a space for people to get away from screens and have face-to-face connection with their child and with each other — parent to parent,” Carr said.

All classes are offered in the Hippo Hub, an 850-square-foot room just behind the store’s retail area.

“My vision is for this room to connect with community, kind of post COVID, and remind everyone that we need each other,” she said. “I do love the retail part of it, but my hope is that the retail keeps enabling me to develop this vision.”

Both clothing boutiques have memorable names, each with its own story.

Lil’ Miss Miley’s Baby Boutique grew out of a long-running friendship with the Milams and the Kelly family.

“Our kids came up with the Mileys, combining our names, and I incorporated that into my store,” Milam said. “We have Miley group chat, we go on Miley family vacations, Miley game night, Miley family Christmas. It’s the family that you choose.”

Carr said she was looking for a name that would be difficult to forget.

“I just remembered that purple was my favorite color as a child,” she said. “And then hippopotamus just came to me, and I started thinking about kids saying it and it cracked me up.”

Each children’s boutique has an online store and has also benefited from being in the downtown shopping district, as well as Downtown Lee’s Summit Main Street, a nonprofit dedicated to the revitalization of the downtown area.

“I’m so grateful to Downtown Lee’s Summit because of the business that they’ve brought in as a start-up business,” Carr said. “Every time they have an event, I know that it’s going to be a good day for me.”

Milam, a Garden City resident who previously lived in Lee’s Summit for 15 years, was also drawn to the downtown area.

“My heart is in Lee’s Summit because we lived there for so long,” she added. “I love the Lee’s Summit downtown vibe.”

Both business owners have similar offerings but do not hesitate to recommend each other’s stores to customers.

“People come in and if they can’t find it here, then I suggest they go to (Lil’ Miss Miley’s) and she does the same thing,” said the Purple Hippopotamus owner. “I want to give Beth (Milam) credit for that because she instigated it when we very first opened.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.