Lakin Information

The wood floor creaks in Lakins Childrens Fine Apparel and owner Phyllis Lakin will never laminate it. Theres no need to change what has always been perfectly good. I crawled on this wooden floor as a baby. A lot of my identity is tied up in this store, she said. The boom times of downtown Gardner with factory workers filling the stores are indeed long gone, but Lakins Childrens Fine Apparel still remains in all its eclecticism at 68 Parker St. The store is more than 80 years old, originally opening on Main Street in 1935 before moving to Parker Street 10 years later. Parents Leo and Ida ran the store together, and Phyllis, their only child, took ownership in 2001 following her fathers death. Lakin grew up in the store, a true daughter of downtown. She decorates the stores window display with an ample variety of dolls and clothing, surrounding the customer on both sides before the final step toward the entrance. Despite the colorful effort, with its small size the storefront could quite honestly be missed by a passing car or pedestrian. But once inside, the room is considerably long in depth and the sheer amount of clothing for boys and girls from newborn age to early 20s, as well as the shoes, dolls, jewelry and other accessories much of it American-made defies the outward expectation. And then theres Lakin herself, the one-woman show who is happy to stand back and let the customers explore to buy or not buy at their leisure but if called upon, can entertain their children with a shining rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. The easy joy that she possesses comes in part from knowing what its like to do something different. She spent more than 25 years in the Boston area and worked in medical research.When her f ather broke his leg in 1997 at 99 years old, she came back to Gardner to help him run the store as he rehabbed. In the last three months of her mother Idas life in 1986 following a stroke, Lakin stayed by her side and promised to do the same for her father. To everybodys surprise, Leo still had ...