Toymaker with celebrity clientele has new home
MONROE — Milton & Goose, a toy store known for its wooden kitchen sets relocated its operations from Pennsylvania to Connecticut and is now up and running. The toy manufacturer is located in a 9,000 square-foot space at 580 Pepper St. in Monroe.
Founder Shari Raymond, a West Hartford native with a background in media, founded the brand in 2017 while she was looking for a kitchen set for her then one-year-old daughter.
"We started with just one play kitchen and the response to it was wonderful." she said. Now, Milton & Goose has expanded its inventory to include a wooden refrigerator, a dairy food set and dollhouse living room furniture. According to the website, prices range from $32 for a wooden "Seltzer Siphon" to a $649 "Essential Play Kitchen."
According to Raymond, Milton & Goose's move was something that she had always envisioned, saying she wanted to grow roots in her home state. She said she is planning to utilize local Connecticut vendors.
"Wherever possible, we try and support familyowned operations and smaller businesses in the area," she said.
But even though Milton & Goose has a local focus, the brand has a wide reach and counts celebrities among its clientele — among them, Kim Kardashian West and Jessica Alba.
"It's always very exciting when it pops up that a celebrity has our product
or knows about our brand," she said. "When we got an order for Kim Kardashian, I had to do a double take. I was like, 'Is this actually going to Kim Kardashian West?'" Kardashian West showcased Milton & Goose's signature kitchen in an Instagram story.
Milton & Goose has also been featured in magazines such as Vogue and Parents, and is sold at high-end retailers like Neiman Marcus and West Elm.
Previously, the brand manufactured its toys in Lancaster, Pa., where Raymond said she worked with the local Amish community.
Operations began the move to Connecticut earlier this year, and the migration is now about 75 percent complete, she said. Operations at the Monroe factory began in August, and while some manufacturing is still done in Pennsylvania, Raymond said she hopes to be 100 percent in Connecticut by next year.
"We've also moved quite a bit of our supply chain over to Connecticut. So we're now working with packaging — like box companies — out of Connecticut. We're trying to move a lot of our supply chain to more local vendors," she said.