Wicker Park boutique, Sprout, focused on healthy products

By Danielle Braff
Tuesday, June 12, 2012

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We all make changes when we have children. Maybe we eat a few more veggies to set a good example. Or maybe we try to hit the gym (or at least log fewer hours on the couch) to show our kids how much fun it is to be active.

But there are very few who completely turn their worlds upside down to make it a safer place for their children.

And Suzanne Price puts them all to shame.

Formerly a senior equity research analyst, she quit her job when she found out she was expecting and founded Sprout San Francisco, a store solely focused on providing the safest, healthiest products for children.

In her previous job, she spent years studying organic consumer products and learning about the effects of toxic chemicals on our bodies-and she knew she wouldn't let those chemicals near her babies.

So Price, who was raised in New York, studied at Northwestern and currently lives in San Francisco, opened her first Sprout San Francisco store in California three years ago. She opened another in New York in September, and she finally made her way back to Chicago in April at 1943 W. Division in Wicker Park.

"It's a neighborhood that's lacking other similar things," Price says of her choice of location in Chicago, where the store "grow" used to live.

Sprout San Francisco sells everything from baby shampoo to organic mattresses, and its employees have been trained to explain the safest, healthiest options for your needs. They'll also offer story time, music classes and other fun entertainment for kids.

And if you could only splurge on one thing for your baby?

"Get an organic mattress," Price says, explaining that traditional crib mattresses are sprayed with chemicals. "Your baby spends most of their time on the crib mattress, and putting an organic mattress cover over it isn't going to help much. After that, personal care products are important because their skin is so porous, and it absorbs everything."

This article appeared in the June 2012 edition of Chicago Parent.