Welcome to Flying Squirrel!

Flying Squirrel carries new and nearly new necessities for infants, kids and parents including toys, clothing and books by local designers, artists, smaller manufacturers and larger, more well-known manufacturers. Judith Velosky Martell and Kate Schmitz are excited to be opening the store on the roomy web after four years at their physical location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 96 N. 6th St.

A brief history of the store:

Judith, the mother of twins, Fritz and Lucia, initially conceived of the second-hand aspect of the store when the time came to get rid of her two expensive, garishly colored, plastic excersaucers. She thought..."Landfill!!" and called her friend Kate, collector of children's books (now the mother of three year old Harry - aka HTB). The two of them looked for a space with Mike Davis of Academy Records fame. They found a great location, divided it, and opened the Brooklyn branch of Academy and Flying Squirrel in the spring of 2004. He had his store front painted immediately. Flying Squirrel was painted in November of 2007. Many fathers shop at the record store while many mothers shop at the baby store. Judith and Kate, both avid record collectors at one time in the distant past, have bought fewer than 20 records between them in six years of business and generally enter Academy only to discuss important matters that involve lunch. And snacks.

A statement from Flying Squirrel:

We'd like Flying Squirrel to be a place in the community for families to exchange resources and ideas. Towards that end we supply a playroom for kids and tiny, child-sized chairs for weary adults. We look for toys and clothing that we love and try to avoid what we consider unnecessarily high prices - We want families as well as gift givers to shop here. In the case of pricey items like the Like a Bike, a walking bike, we stock the original and most expensive version because we've found it's by far the best one out there and really worth the big bucks. All are welcome to play and shop, change their diapers, complain about stuff or just hang out. We still don't mind if you spill raisins on our floor, and our store stays cool on hot days. We also still plan to have a Habatrail complete with fat, fuzzy hamsters run between Academy and The Squirrel, but, regrettably, we have not gotten around to it. Thank you to our wonderful customers for your support, friendship and advice!

-Judith and Kate and Fritz, Lucia, Harry, Lassie and Zoey

In order to sell to us:

Call 718-218-7775 to make an appt. We accept clothing, toys and equipment. Bring clothes for the present season. They must be freshly cleaned and in good condition. We establish the value of an article of clothing and give you half that in store credit or a quarter in cash.

Currently we give all donations to the Catholic Charities. This group provides clothing and equipment to pregnant, single women.

We are always on the lookout for new charities so please let us know if you have any ideas.

We recommend the yahoo group www.brooklynbabyhui.com for new moms and those new to the neighborhood.

We buy, sell and trade, and we change diapers!