LiL' Things, big problems

The LiL' Things team concedes that a big operation like Toys R Us will have the money and time to tinker until the baby goods big-store concept works. "It still sounds like a great idea," Steagall says.

But the moms of suburbia will have the final word--and LiL' Things has already lost Houlditch.

"It's been two years since I've been there," she says at the close-out sale. "And I'm not going back.