Mon Petit Canard, French for ‘my little duck’, was named for our daughter’s love of ducks which she has had since her first close encounter with ducks at a local park when she was three months old.

The idea for opening a children’s store has been percolating around our house since 2000, long before our daughter was born, when we were shopping for a gift for a friend with a newborn and we had trouble finding a unique, quality gift despite the fact that we live in the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States. It didn’t seem fair that around every corner in Paris there was a cute children’s boutique with stylish, well-made items that any family would love but we struggled to find something merely adequate. The seed for the store was planted.

Two years before our daughter was born, we began accumulating children’s items we liked on our travels around the U.S. and Europe. We discovered that there is a surprisingly large variety of quality to children’s clothing and furnishings. When our daughter came along we sought out the best we could find at any price. Sometimes the best has a price to match its quality but often the most stylish and best made items are not necessarily the most expensive (and many expensive items do not live up to their price). In fact the largest barrier to providing the best for your child is probably not cost, but availability and a working knowledge of the real-world performance and quality of available children’s clothing and furnishings.

How do you wade through the hundreds of designers and manufacturers to find the few that make the items worthy of your child, the ones that will help bring out their smile and inner beauty as well reveal them to the world in their best possible light? How can you know if a piece of clothing will withstand the rigors of play and multiple washings and still be presentable at a theater in the evening? How can you tell if a seat cover is comfy or a diaper bag is well-designed and durable?

Luckily, we have done that for you (And we love doing it!). Each and every designer and manufacturer featured on our website has been tested by us and our daughter. The clothes we carry are the ones that make strangers stop us to comment on how cute she looks. The gear we carry beautifully simplifies our lives while being durable in real-world use and making us feel that our daughter is safe and pampered.  The toys we carry are the ones that she chooses over and over to guard her sleep at night and accompany her on adventures in the yard or around the world.

We believe that all parents want the best in the world for their Petit Canard, and our goal is to put that within easy reach. We hope you love shopping our collection as much as we have enjoyed putting it together (and using it)! Please let us know what you like (or don’t) about our store. Your satisfaction and your child’s happiness is our ultimate goal and if there is something you wish we would carry, please let us know that too.

Mon Petit Canard