People of the OCQ: Diana
“Sometimes I will get a customer come in and say that the clothes we used to make and had bought for their children have been handed down and now their grandchildren are wearing them. That’s so nice to hear,” says Diana, owner of Pumpkin Pie Kids in the Old City Quarter.
When the store first opened its doors in 1992, the racks were stocked with her mother Carole’s own designs.
In the early 1980’s, the mother daughter duo took pattern making courses and started designing and sewing aerobics wear to sell at local markets.
“We both took aerobics classes together and loved making the outfits, but then all of us kids started having children, and so our mom started sewing for the grandkids,” explains Diana.
As the designs grew in popularity at craft markets, Diana’s mother decided to open up her own store in the Old City Quarter. It had always been a dream for the mother daughter team to open a store together, so shortly after, Diana convinced her family to move to Nanaimo and joined her in the clothing business.
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“We opened our first store just around the corner on Wesley Street. As we grew, we needed more space and moved to bigger locations. We also decided to expand our selection of shoes and toys. We’ve always been in the Old City Quarter,” she says.
Home based seamstresses were hired to expand the team and additional merchandise was sold as the company’s success grew. Diana primarily worked behind the scenes and on weekends when her children were young. Her daughter used to love trying on and modeling the new shoes, and even designed and made herself a pair of flip flops at an early age. Diana’s daughter Lauren worked in the store for over 10 years before pursuing a career in graphic design.
Three generations of women have made what Pumpkin Pie Kids is today, along with their amazing staff.
The increased cost and scarcity of sourcing Canadian made fabrics and difficulty finding replacement seamstresses, led the family to focus on curating other merchandise instead. Diana’s knowledge of the textile industry gives her an advantage to be able to select the best lines available for the store.
“If you were to compare big box store clothing side by side with what we stock, you can notice the difference” she explains. “I can tell when something's going to wash up well and fit great. Things that will last and can be passed down”
When Diana and her mom began the business, it was for the love of fashion and designing good fitting quality clothing. Now, as the business has shifted over the years, her passion lies with supporting customers find what they need.
“Because I buy everything myself, I get to choose what I like and what I think our customers like,” she explains. “I'm choosing things that are safe, good quality and good value. If it's going to be a higher sticker price, I must feel that there's a reason for that, not just because of the brand name.”
Pumpkin Pie Kids sources out items that Diana believes is safe, high quality and ethically made. They stock a variety of children’s clothing, outwear, school gear, toys and footwear. The clothing starts at preemie and goes up to preteen.
Around ten years ago, Diana had the forethought to create an online shopping experience for their customers. During COVID, this proved to be a worthwhile prior investment as the store was already set up for taking online orders.
“I was so happy that I had a website. It worked great for local customers too! They could shop on-line, and my daughter and I would do home deliveries to help customers get those much needed items” she says.
Although the online world has made shopping extremely convenient and accessible, Diana says the experience of coming into a shop, feeling the fabrics, trying on the shoes and learning from the expertise of staff is still unparalleled.
“It’s a joy seeing our customers over the years, watching their children and even grandchildren grow.” “I feel good about the products we offer, something that I would have used for my own kids.”