ANB Baby opens in Wantagh
Ari Goodman is the owner of ANB Baby boutique in Wantagh. Credit: Newsday/Beth Whitehouse
ANB Baby, which originated in Brooklyn and recently opened in Wantagh, was born at about the same time as owner Ari Goodman’s second child 16 years ago.
“My wife wanted all the latest and greatest and we were not able to afford it,” Goodman says. His wife, Miriam, “wanted this beautiful crib. I said, ‘That’s a lot of money.’” He thought maybe if he called the company directly, he could buy one for her at the wholesale price.
But the minimum wholesale order was $3,000. So Goodman called friends who were also expecting, and together they met the requirement. “I rented a U-Haul and drove to their warehouse in Baltimore. My wife got the crib she wanted.” And Goodman got an idea — to open a baby boutique in Borough Park. He named it ANB Baby, A for Ari, N for Nathan, and B for Ben — himself, his paternal grandfather and his maternal grandfather.
The Goodman family has since moved to Cedarhurst, and Miriam spurred another store opening. “She said, ‘Why don’t you open your store out here?’” Goodman says. So, Goodman has launched a store three times the size of the Brooklyn location that offers, he says, “anything a mother would need to start the life of being a mother and also the life of the baby up to the first three years of life.”
That includes strollers, infant floor seats, car seats, diaper bags, toys, breastfeeding apparatus and more from brands such as UPPAbaby, Diono and Nuna.
The back of the store features a faux nursery. “We have $200 to $300 blankets for the baby that you won’t find in your average store,” Goodman says. “We’re not looking for mass market, like Walmart or Target. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but we’ve selected based on a quality product from a design standpoint, fashion as well as functional products.”
Prices range from $2 for Mrs. Grossmans Stickers for kids to $1,649.99 for a Mima Xari Stroller.
ANB Baby is in the Cherrywood Shopping Center located at 1168 Wantagh Ave., in Wantagh; hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Sundays, and closed on Saturdays; 877-222-9692, anbbaby.com.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
