I’m not the kind of blogger who gets invited to the super-cool events. But I was stoked to get an invite to the pre-opening of WONDER!

First, I WONDERed what WONDER! was. I knew it was a children’s store and that I was allowed to bring my kids to the blogger event. What more did I need to know beforehand? It’s not like when I was out covering a story for AP and I had to do some reporting before going to a press conference.

So me and my two little ones headed to suburban Deerfield, Ill. and came to the strip mall that was to be the home of WONDER! I began to curse the existence of strip malls because I can never find the store I’m looking for. I told Logan to keep an eye out for a W.

Scouring for a quaint children’s boutique, I passed a Best Buy and then saw in huge letters WONDER! The white blocky store dwarfed the Best Buy. “Wow! It’s huge!” I said.

“MOM! There’s a W!” Logan replied.

“Yeah, it’s pretty hard to miss.”

Actually at 135,000 square feet, the store is impossible to miss.

I’d say it was like Babies R Us, but really, there’s no comparison. How about an ACT question? WONDER! is to Babies R Us like Whole Foods is to Aldi. Are you with me now?

WONDER! says it has the largest collection of young children’s products and services under one roof. It has an in-store café that has organic snack and meal options courtesy of Bean Sprouts. You can also rent out party spaces and they offer other froo-froo frills like educational programs, a half-acre play area, drop-in activities, musical performances and arty/crafty fun.

I gotta say, when we walked in, we were awed. There were pristine rows upon rows of merchandise that catered to every parents’ and kids’ possible whim. A toy selection that ranged from small trinkets to the best of Melissa & Doug and Skip*Hop. The stroller section was insanely bountiful. Who knew that there were so many different kinds of strollers?

There was also a racetrack for kids to test drive electronic cars, bikes and trikes. The electric vehicles freak Logan out, so he hung out on a foot-powered car.

WONDER! also had another play area that looked like a gated community in the Smurf village.

What can I say? I was impressed. Will it be successful in this economy? There’s definitely plenty of affordable options at the store, but so many people are drastically slashing their spending, I just don’t know. However I hope so because it’s an exceptionally unique shopping experience. WONDER! is trying to be more than a store, it wants to be part of our community. And I do believe it’ll be up to the community to make that happen.

 

*Disclosure: I was invited with dozens of other bloggers to go to WONDER! the day before its grand opening. I received a few gifts, including a book, CD and thumbdrive as part of the promotional event.