When I was a child, I was constantly "starting a new business." Of course I had the standard lemonade stands throughout the years, but my very first "business" was coloring on rocks and selling them as paperweights to my parents and neighbors when I was around the age of 4. From 4-14 I was always selling something: coloring pages that I traced, coloring pages that I colored (haha) AND laminated (those were a premium price), bookmarks, friendship bracelets, beaded animals, jewelry, snails, gift wrapping (ran the business out of a room in the basement - my only customer was my mom) and the list goes on and on. It's safe to say that selling and running a business is in my blood, it's part of who I am and always has been.  It's also important to include though in this childhood version of myself that I was always "mothering" small things, whether it was chicks, butterflies, salamanders, hamsters, baby dolls or stuffed animals. I always knew I wanted to be a mom but I wasn't quite sure what that woud look like for me. I just knew I really liked the "little babes" in my life and wanted to take good care of them but also wanted to "sell all the things" and run a business.

When I became a mom to my oldest son in February 2006 I simultaneously started my cloth diapering journey. At the time, my husband and I were living in Mexico and did not have many options for cloth diapering other than what I was able to bring down from the USA (where options were also lacking).

In September of 2007 (a month before the birth of our second son), we made the decision to move back to my hometown of Grand Junction, CO. I was shocked that there wasn't a local place to buy any sort of cloth diapers. The diaper service that had diapered me as a baby had just gone out of business a few months before we arrived. It was from them that I had actually bought my first son’s diapers that I packed down to Mexico. Due to the lack of being able to easily purchase cloth diapers locally, I knew something had to be done; I saw an opportunity to "sell." As you can see from when I was a kid, my mind is constantly looking for ways to sell and bring value to others.

I founded Pampered Buns in January of 2008 which was focused on educating parents about modern cloth diapers. I operated it out of our home by internet and personal consultations with inquiring parents. The products I sold at the start of the business were cloth diapers and relevant accessories. It worked well but after almost two years my husband and I made a big decision to help give Pampered Buns the wings it needed to fly to its next stage in growth.

In November of 2009, we moved our fledgling Pampered Buns business into an office building on Grand Avenue in Grand Junction. It was then that my husband and I rebranded the name to Colorado Baby in order to be more encompassing of natural parenting products. I operated the store out of that location for two years with it steadily growing. Our family was growing too; in June of 2009 we had welcomed our third son.

We had strong convictions throughout all the stages of the business to run it debt-free.  It was all I knew as I had run my previous businesses (haha!) on a complete cash-only basis. Every sale from Pampered Buns and then Colorado Baby, was put right back into the business to pay its overhead as well as grow the inventory. We started the business originally with $250 cash we had from our wedding in 2005. We've had challenging years but all of it has been with ultimately great reward and peace. Running a debt-free business is something I am quite passionate about and love to mentor others in.

As the business continued to grow, so did our family. In January 2012, our fourth son joined us while we were also in the process of moving the store to its home here on Main Street. We've been in the historic downtown of Grand Junction since April of 2012. It was on Main Street that I had always envisioned Colorado Baby residing.

We welcomed our 5th child and first girl into the family in October 2013. The store was now coming up on 6 years and was finally starting to pay me a regular salary of about $200 per week (humble beginnings). I also had employees working for me for about a year or so at this point.

In August of 2016, just hours after hosting one of our biggest events of the year, we welcomed our 5th son (6th child) into our family. A few of our kids pretty much could have been born at the store at this point, ha!

All along the way, over 15 years in business, we have been blessed with incredible employees and amazing customers. Colorado Baby wouldn't be what it is without all of these people over the years. If only they could all be mentioned by name! We don't want it to come across as though we have built this all on our own because it simply isn't true. We've had so much support and encouragement along the way for which we are incredibly grateful!

December 2019 we grew our family by another boy, our 7th child.  Who knew that just a few months after his precious arrival, the world would be turned upside down by COVID-19? 2020 was a wild ride for us as it was for most people, but our community of fans were incredibly supportive. We love serving you and working with you, and the years of 2020 and 2021 made that even sweeter and more apparent.

Our family's focus in 2022 was on our 7th child's diagnosis of Pediatric Feeding Disorder. We learned a whole new way of life with a tube-fed child while our son worked through some feeding struggles for most of his year of being 2 years old. With the help of very talented specialists and a lot of work together at home, as a team, he has overcome those challenges and is back to living a tube-free life. In the midst of all of this, in March 2022, we welcomed our 8th child (our 7th boy) into the family!

This year in 2023 we celebrate 15 years of being in business. We can't thank you enough and look forward to the next 15!  Thank you for stopping by our shop online.  If you are ever in the Grand Junction area, we would love to have you come by our shop in person!

You can find us at: 560 Main Street, Grand Junction, CO. Or give us a call 970-242-0132.

Megan Alfaro
Owner of Colorado Baby