• Yummy Mummy

  1201 Lexington Ave., nr. 81st St.; 212-879-8669

  Amanda Cole opened her store—part gear provider, part community support center—after having a difficult time breast-feeding her daughter. Apparently she wasn’t the only one: The day before she opened Yummy Mummy last May, customers were pounding on the door. Cole carries all manner of nursing accoutrements, from the necessities (bras, ointments, pillows), to the kind of clothing mothers would wear even if they didn’t need to (smock blouses and camis from Swedish line Boob, in particular). She also seeks out unusual items like a line of silicone compression underwear to help with C-section recovery. Though the store is a big breast-feeding advocate, it’s not exclusionary—it stocks pumps and bottles and rents hospital-grade pumps ($40 a week, plus $15 for delivery). One or more times a day, the store transforms into a salon for weekly lactation classes, prenatal yoga and Pilates, and breast-feeding support groups.

From the 2010 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine