French Toast Children’s Boutique plans to move its store from the Steam Plant building at 159 S. Lincoln downtown to a new 1,100-square-foot space at 1170 W. Summit Parkway in the Kendall Yards neighborhood.

The business, which started as an online retailer in 2011 and opened its Steam Plant space in 2012, is co-owned by Julia Lara and her mother, Kathleen.

“We decided to move because we wanted to draw in more customers,” says Julia Lara. “Kendall Yards is more centrally located, and it just feels like it’s growing into this booming shopping district that attracts people from all over the region.”

Lara says the business’s last day at the Steam Plant was May 18, and it plans to hold a soft opening in the new space June 1.

She says the business also will be renamed French Toast Momma & Mini to better reflect the mother-daughter bond between its co-owners, as well as its intention to carry more products for women.

“We’ll still focus on books and educational toys for children 6 and under, baby gear, and home products, but we do want to add more items for just women,” she says. “We also plan to bring back our baby registry, as part of our newly designed website.”

Lara says the business’s new space is currently being remodeled by a team from Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Corp., the development company that owns Kendall Yards.

“It’s about half the size of our old space, but we should still be able to have about the same amount of merchandise,” she says. 

She says French Toast also will retain all four of its current employees and plans to hire two more people once it has moved to the new space.