Parenting By Nature

Tamara Champion, right, who owns www.bynature.ca, is always eager to educate and inform her customers. Above, she points out the advantages of cloth diapering to a customer.

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In the midst of a deepening recession, Tamara Champion found herself at a crossroads. Operating her budding business, www.bynature.ca, out of her jam-packed garage, Champion knew it was time to expand – or turn away customers.

"The recession had just hit but we were growing, we had hired a full-time employee and we needed more help," said Champion. "And we were running out of space in my garage; we were literally tripping over one another."

In addition, she thought the time was ripe to take her successful e-commerce business model and see if it would translate in a retail setting. Buoyed by support from her accountant, her business mentor and her husband, Champion began a six-month-long search for a new home for her (business) baby.

In the end, she settled on a rather non-descript space on Ontario Street in Progress Park. She took a 300-square-foot space fronting the road and turned it into a boutique area, offering her goods in the small retail space for the first time. The remainder of the 1,700-square feet was used as a warehouse for her increasingly popular internet business.

"Within three weeks of opening (in July of 2011), we knew the boutique area wasn’t big enough," said Champion who was pleasantly surprised to have moms toting babies and pushing strollers eager to check out the new kid on the retail block.

Like any successful entrepreneur, Champion adapted quickly, tripling the size of the boutique and dramatically expanding the lineup of showcased goods.

"Ironically, we didn’t do any traditional advertising – it was all social marketing and through our website," Champion said. "Nine out of 10 people who came here heard about us through word of mouth. The word spread pretty quickly."

Champion's business and, more importantly, what she offers is unique. 

 "We offer education, inspiration and support for green living and natural parenting," said Champion, whose boutique features a private nursing lounge for breastfeeding mothers. "Our boutique and our online store offer the largest selection of cloth diapers, baby carriers, natural toys, baby and children's goods north of Toronto."

And while sales are important, education is equally critical, Champion says. She uses cloth diapering as the classic example of why she sees her role as a teacher as a key one.

"Statistics show that about 90% of parents use disposable diapers," Champion explains. "Each year in Canada, four million dirty diapers go to the landfill. Parents, on average, will use 6,000 disposable diapers per child."

It doesn't have to be, she said. Today, there is a wide range of styles and fabrics for cloth diapers that are just as easy to use as disposable diapers and are much cheaper and better for the environment.

"The average parent will spend $3,000 on disposable diapers for each child," Champion said. "Reusable, good-quality cloth diapers can be purchased for as little as $300 that, if used properly, will outlast your child."

In fact, Champion says many people wouldn't even recognize cloth diapers today.

"Reusable diapers have evolved to such an extent over the last decade that many rival throwaway diapers. Modern cloth diapers are just as easy to use, change and wash as disposable diapers. In fact, if you were to put an all-in-one cloth diaper next to a disposable, you would find very little difference in bulk, size and function," she said.

It was her desire to use cloth diapers and to find environmental-friendly products and toys for her own children that birthed this idea for a business.

"Eight years ago, before the birth of my first child, I was looking for cloth diapers and baby slings and I couldn’t find any in Canada that were eco-friendly," said Champion. "I had to order them from the U.S."

The dearth of such goods was an eye-opener that got her entrepreneurial blood flowing. She had recently left her job as a manager of Starbucks in Toronto and found herself with time on her hands during her maternity leave, so she started researching her new business idea.

She hasn't stopped since. After moving briefly to Nova Scotia, the young couple and their new baby decided to move to Orillia – and bring their new internet business with them.

"My dad lived in Orillia, so I knew it pretty well and we didn't want to start our family in Toronto," said Champion. "We really felt like Orillia was a good place to raise a family and a good place for our business. My husband worked at the casino in Nova Scotia and was able to get a job at Casino Rama… things just fell into place."

Today, her husband no longer works at the casino; he, too, works full-time with bynature.ca, handling all the IT functions.

"We now have five employees (three full-time and two part-time)," said Champion. "Our internet business has been impacted by the recession and by an increase in competition but it still is a big part of what we do. We ship all over Canada from here."

The boutique continues to do better than even Champion expected. "We get a lot of people who stop in on their way to the cottage and we get a lot of people from Barrie and Toronto," said Champion. "Orillia really is a good location in that respect."

Buoyed by that success, Champion recently decided to expand, taking over the space above her store – a space that she is going to transform into a wellness lounge, where parents can learn about cloth diapering, 'baby-wearing', living healthy and enjoy social time.

"It will be a dedicated space for workshops, for mom groups – a place where we can maybe offer a breastfeeding support group, cloth diapering 101… It's not just moms and kids; we'll also offer some healthy living or maybe healthy cooking classes. It will be a great space for those types of things," Champion said.

It's part of the family business' mandate.

"We want to be a partner in parenting by helping parents find the information and products they need to give their children the gift of a healthier, better life and future," said Champion, who has an exhaustive questionnaire for companies that want to sell their wares at bynature.ca. "To me, it's not all about making money. It's about educating people, it's about minimizing our impact on the planet… that's what's important."

The bynature.ca boutique is located at 5 Ontario St. The boutique is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. The store is closed Sundays and Mondays.