BILLINGS — Bitterroot Babies, located at 1033 S. 29th St. Unit B, is a store filled with clothing and other items for mothers and children ages zero to eight.
Everything inside the baby boutique is free.
“We encourage moms to bring in the stuff they don't need anymore. It is not required. Actually, we don't have any requirements,” Chantelle Biscoe, the brains behind the boutique, said recently. “We wanted a space that moms who were done with their kids' clothes, they had to outgrow them, they didn't need them anymore, they could bring it to a central space. And the moms who needed them can come to that space and still have a shopping experience, but be able to get everything for free.”
The no-cost, no-judgment store opened five years ago after Biscoe had her youngest child. Bitterroot Babies is under Biscoe's nonprofit Loving Home Foundation, which is dedicated to helping mothers care for their children in Montana.
"I had just had a baby, and my friend and neighbor, Tracy, had just had a baby too. And so we had shared clothes," Biscoe said. “They can literally just come and get what they need.”
The store has grown and changed locations in the half-decade it's been open, offering more clothes and items for babies and mothers in need. The store is located in the back of the Elk Mountain Learning & Supplies bookstore.
"It was a way to reuse the clothes that we already had without them being charged for or without them ending up in places that they would just languish in bins and basements or something like that," Biscoe said.
Biscoe has seen the need for assistance growing in our community in the years she has operated the store.
“We have seen a huge increase in the last year. Mostly it is for school-age sizes and coats, boots, snow pants, those seasonal types of things. The good news is we get a lot of that back in so it can be reused by other families. But the bad news is that with the demand being what it is, it's harder to keep those sizes,” Biscoe said.
The store takes donations on Monday nights from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and is open for shopping and donation drops on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
"We love being able to offer a resource to families in Billings and around Montana," Biscoe said.
Biscoe said the store helps an average of 50 families every week. Dena Truchot used the store after she had her second child.
“I was pregnant with my son, who was a surprise baby, I have a 16-year-old and then, surprise, little guy who came along,” Truchot said. “We're like every other American. You live paycheck to paycheck. The last thing you want to have to do is go buy new clothes. And this has been phenomenal.”
Biscoe said she couldn't do what she does without the help of her team, who volunteer their time and the community's support.
"It's a huge group effort. It's not just us that make it run, but it's our community that makes it run on a day-to-day basis because they help keep us supplied and their donations help keep the lights on," Biscoe said.
