When Rachel Jones Bellas and Michelle Friend Sternlicht’s mutual friend moved to Italy, they decided to finally grab coffee after spending a decade on opposite sides of the same friend group. The coffee didn’t just amount to a new friendship; 10 minutes in, they had come up with a concept for a new children’s store.
Darling Shop, at 149 Atlantic Ave., opened in November 2025 and sells toys, clothes and one-of-a-kind vintage pieces for children. Its customers are mostly neighbors, but it also draws parents from Manhattan and out-of-towners, like grandparents visiting to meet new babies.
“We really strive to create a local community, but at the same time we want it to be a destination,” Sternlicht said.
When they were looking for a storefront, they knew it had to be in Brooklyn Heights. “We really felt like there was room for a children’s store in this neighborhood,” Sternlicht said. She lives three minutes from the store, and Bellas lives three minutes away in the opposite direction.
Bellas, a former costume designer, started doing pop-ups a couple of years ago, selling small collections of children’s clothes made from vintage textiles. Now, she designs the Darling line, which is made in the Garment District.
Darling’s childrenswear is highly curated and meant to be passed down. “We both feel that quality is incredibly important, which is why we’ve both always been drawn to vintage,” Bellas said. “The quality of vintage pieces is often really impeccable, whether it was made by a manufacturer or made by someone’s mother or grandmother.”
The vintage is what makes Darling unlike many other children’s shops. “We have a large collection of really incredible vintage pieces that are kind of just waiting to go on a flower girl or a ring bearer or for a really special party or christening,” Bellas said.
Still, new baby clothes have been the biggest seller, the shop owners said. When they sold out faster than expected, leaving only vintage on the shelves, Bellas and Sternlicht designed their own rompers, which have proven to be just as popular.
Bellas and Sternlicht have taken the Darling concept beyond clothes and toys. Out back, past the shop floor, is a pea gravel courtyard with wrought-iron bistro tables scattered across it, trailing greenery in steel planters and string lights wound through a tree.
Over the past few months, they’ve hosted backyard sales with writer Harling Ross Anton and actress Julia Chan, among others. They’ve also held art workshops with Edwina White, a Brooklyn-based artist, who designed the height chart in the store and other decor like pillows and cards.
The shop’s next big event will be a back-to-school party, and they’re planning a parenting workshop for parents of preschoolers, led by an early childhood expert.
Bellas and Sternlicht also design and decorate children’s bedrooms. Anyone who’s been in the shop has already seen the aesthetic — they did the interiors themselves.
There’s more to come in the “Darling world,” Sternlicht said. “We have so many ambitions for the store itself, the things we want to carry, the things we want to make ourselves.”
Heights Happenings
Montague Street between Henry and Hicks won first place for Greenest Commercial Block in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest.
The old Floyd building is getting braced for a partial teardown. The Department of Buildings issued a permit July 6 to shore up 131 Atlantic Ave. — home to the bocce bar until it closed in December 2024 — from the cellar through the third floor, ahead of what the filing describes as “required partial demolition work.” Nothing on file yet says what’s planned for the site.
Frenzie is going to fill a late-night pizza gap in the neighborhood. The restaurant will serve wine and pizza until midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, Grub Street reported.
The Brooklyn Heights Association this week announced the designers for the semi-annual Designer Showhouse. Designers like Stollar Fearins Welch and Rachael Rosenblum will remake the 1850s house at 1 Monroe Place. There will be an opening night party on Sept. 30, and public hours will run from Oct. 2 through Nov. 1.
The Amateur Astronomers Association is hosting a stargazing session at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park on Aug. 12 from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriters The HawtPlates are performing a free event at the Granite Prospect in Brooklyn Bridge Park on Aug. 14 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Dua Lipa Citi Biked through the neighborhood this week.
This week’s Movie With a View in Brooklyn Bridge Park is Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” Entry for the screening on Aug. 13 begins at 6 p.m.
Nearby News
Don’t Matter, a vinyl listening lounge and cocktail bar, is now open at 55 Sands St. in Dumbo.
Earth Color Dye Lab is hosting BYO dyeing workshops at Loop of the Loom at 197 Plymouth St. in Dumbo on Aug. 14 from 5 to 7 p.m. and Aug. 15 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets are $50.
Seven Wonders Collective in Boerum Hill is hosting a pop-up with vintage baby clothes on Aug. 14 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 398 Atlantic Ave.
MUJI is opening another location in Downtown Brooklyn.
Winner, a Park Slope-based bakery and cafe from Michelin-starred chef Daniel Eddy, is opening another location at 505 State St. in Downtown Brooklyn this fall.
The Department of Transportation is looking for feedback on potential EV charging locations in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and Gowanus. Submit comments here.
Activist group Voice of Gowanus filed a lawsuit against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, National Grid and the current owners of Parcel III of the Citizens former Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Works site, also known as Public Place. The lawsuit demands more extensive cleanup of the site, and argues that Parcel III should be categorized as a Superfund site.
We lost Floyd but gained Dua Lipa