Nestled under the stoop next to Pearle Vision, area kids - a children's clothing and toy shop - is celebrating its first anniversary at 154 Montague Street. Owner Loretta Gendville, who operates 8 children's stores (and two yoga studios) in brownstone Brooklyn, stocks the shelves with unique clothing, toys, and books that appeal to all ages.

Loretta was a Smith Street pioneer, opening her first shop there four years ago when her daughter was a baby. Now, she says, there are five children's clothing shops within five blocks. Her idea, she says, was to offer the kind of clothing she wanted for her daughter -- unique, with a selection of organics and Brooklyn-based designers -- and unusual toys and books that "adults find enjoyable as well as kids."

Her first store was small, not more than 200 square feet. Loretta, a massage therapist who had never even worked in a retail store and doesn't consider herself a shopper, found she enjoyed it, thriving on the creative challenge. She opened a second store on 5th Avenue and Bergen Street less than a year later. This one was "twelve times the size." She learned as she went, finding suppliers on the Internet and in magazines before she discovered trade shows at the Javits Center.

Her Montague shop offers clothing by designers from Brooklyn (Appaman, Egg + Avocado, Bobo Brooklyn) to France. Its toy department is cool and eclectic - with graphic wall decals and all manner of animals, wooden New York subway cars and metal wind-up trains, Antquariums, human torso 3-D puzzles, Egglings (for young gardeners), pinhole cameras and ecospheres. Shoppers include local residents as well as lunchtime workers. With Brooklyn's baby boom, Loretta would love to have more space in the neighborhood.