Bellini Baby — Local services in Sandy Springs

We are so fortunate that we made Bellini Baby our first stop when starting to prepare for our baby. Bellini Baby had been highly recommended to us by a wide variety of friends, and it seemed like it was “the place” in Atlanta for baby needs.

My wife and I are both Type-A people, and we quickly got overwhelmed with information as we dove into researching what we’d need, what was best, safest, etc. Thank goodness for Bellini Baby; they’ve done the research, they know all the details, and they help you cut right through the fog to see the important facts of every product. At no time will you ever feel any pressure or get a “sales” vibe -- Larry, Maureen, and Justin are on hand to help, or educate, if you want them to.

Having Justin help us decide on furniture for the nursery was incredible. He helped us see or understand differences that we totally would have missed but greatly influenced our choices.

An example of his depth of knowledge on just about every product in the store: I asked if something was made of real wood, and was it solid. His answer wasn’t “yes,” it was, “Yes. It’s solid poplar. And you may reflexively think you may not want poplar, since it’s known to be a softer wood. However, this is made of poplar grown in the Italian Alps, which has a much colder climate which makes it grow slower. See the wood grain? The grain lines are much tighter than American poplars showing the slow growth and making the wood much more dense. So this is a really strong wood that will hold up for years.” Mind. Blown.

Shockingly, he knows even more about car seats than he does about the furniture, as Justin’s an actual car seat specialist. I didn’t know that was a thing until recently, but once I got the rundown on all the options and designs, I see why a specialist certification is a necessary thing. Not only did Justin patiently walk us through every brand and comparison, but once we purchased the car seat and stroller set, we had a tutorial session with him where he helped us practice installing the car seat in both our cars to figure out the safest, best approach. At first we didn’t think we’d need a whole tutorial session, but it turned out to be the most beneficial hour of prep we’ve done.

Although Justin is an absolute pleasure to work with, he can’t take all the credit. Maureen also helped make our experience magical. Where Justin handled more of the technical, equipment, and safety decisions, Maureen helps from the softer, more decorative angle. She helped us plan the esthetic features for the nursery including designing custom sheets, crib bumpers, and various other touches that have helped make his room perfect. When COVID interrupted supply chains and caused delays, she was our advocate with the chair manufacturer and handled all of the normal headaches of dealing with delivery logistics and delays.

Speaking of deliveries, the furniture delivery company that Bellini Baby uses to deliver and set up the furniture is the best I’ve ever seen. We had two deliveries, but the experience was the same both times. The team was: promptly on time; they worked lightning fast but with perfect caution; they were polite, tidy, and delivered each piece without a scratch. I couldn’t ask for more.

Although we worked primarily with Justin and Maureen, Larry was also fantastic. He and Maureen have been in the business for 30 years, so he was great at talking us through the various brands with in-depth knowledge of their history, research, and quality which helped us zero-in on what we wanted.

All this being said, the bottom line is you should start at Bellini Baby, because you’ll find that you really don’t need to go anywhere else. Bellini only offers products that are at the highest standards, so you’re safe picking things on your own, but if you want white-glove, sommelier-level assistance in making choices or understanding features, Larry, Maureen, and Justin are ready and able to give you the best baby-shopping experience...

Update: the owners made kind attempts to right this situation. However I decided to keep the review the same as the owners are a) the associates that I worked with, and b) the same thing has happened to the other customers of color and relatives oh multiracial/black/brown backgrounds. I’ve thought about it and spoke with my husband who as there, and prayed about it. This kind of behavior won’t die until it’s called out. Shoutout to Justin for trying to make amends but the best way to do that is to treat your customers better. Even the mixed families, black families, Hispanic families, non white families. Whatever family. Just do better. There are other stores who NEVER get this kind of review. Be like those places.

People of color STAY AWAY. People who don’t support discrimination STAY AWAY. The other reviews about this establishment being discriminatory are 100% accurate. My husband and I drove down to visit the store from Cumming, GA. Cumming has a history of racism but has and is changing into a more diverse area. So when I come down to the Sandy Springs-Buckhead-Atlanta area, I am expecting less prejudice and more blending in of sorts. We arrived and were not greeted. 15 minutes later other guests were greeted. We were not. We then begin examining the car seats like everyone else touching the merchandise and the first response we get is that we should refrain from touching the products. There was no “hello”, “how are you” or “we will be right with you.”

It isn’t a coincidence that other reviews are saying the same thing so if you care about putting racist rhetoric in the past, don’t support places that enable racist behavior. It only keeps us talking about the very thing we wish would die. My money is just as good as anyone else’s. Tip: Anyone traveling to an affluent area is probably likely to have the money to spend. And before the lies and stereotyping begin, my husband and I were dressed appropriately. A woman wore the most ridiculous tennis skirt flashing parts of her I’d rather not see and I was covered in long sleeve shirt and pants. My husband I both work in finance. Trust! I will be calling back to complain to a manager and no I will not take down this post. P.S. aside from the car seats I’ve seen better quality cribs...

GAME CHANGING!!! I never leave Google reviews but felt strongly about this one as it is one of the last in-person baby stores in ATL!! Online ordering is all fun and games until you make big purchases on things you need comfort and objective insight on when comparing across brands, and then you end up hating what you bought with no way to return it w/o paying half of what the item is worth. Also a plus - their team does not make commission on sales in store. They are there purely just to educate and help you. Personally I came in to just check out the gliders but ended up learning SO MUCH that most brands don't disclose honestly when comparing themselves across their competitors. I ended up finding a glider with more features as the same price as one I almost bought online (i.e. automated features, more cushion, more fabric color choices, etc.), and the team went out of their way to contact their rep to see if the option I wanted would be available in time as it was a brand new release from the brand. Justin helped a lot with this! I knew nothing about infant car seats, their safety features, the true differences across brands, etc. Speaking to Erin was like talking to a walking baby product encyclopedia - SO helpful. She was straight to the point, showed you physically the differences, stated objective pros and cons, and THEN she input her opinion, keeping it brief vs. droning on and on about subjective truths. This helped a lot because the baby market is BOOMING with misinformation and marketing ploys - it also doesn't help that every company has the same sounding name. I made a decision on a car seat that I was not anticipating making! And, I feel SO MUCH more secure in this decision than I would have if I just tried to go the online info gathering route.

10/10 recommend visiting and taking the time to ask the staff questions! It is helpful to tell them if you have a time limit for your visit so they review the most helpful information first, and if you have anything in particular you want to discuss/ask questions on, ask them! Bonus: I personally didn't feel pressure to purchase anything and I left without doing so day of. They really just like...