Right Start goes public with the right stuff.

Right Start Inc. recently joined the ranks of the few publicly traded mail order companies based in Los Angeles County. The Westlake Village-based firm went public last October with the owners' aim of increasing its size by acquiring another mail order company in a similar line of business.

Right Start sells products aimed at infants and young children up to the age of four. "We would love to acquire a catalog company that goes up to age eight or 10," said Lenny Targon, chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

The Right Start catalog goes to 2.5 million homes nationwide on a quarterly basis. It offers 300 products ranging from children's cassette tapes to children's nail clippers to baby pup tents. No clothing, though.

In 1985 Targon and President Stanley Fridstein researched possible new businesses and discovered a potential niche for a mail order company selling infant and young children's merchandise. The catalog sales industry was "growing like crazy," Targon said, while a small baby boom was creating a need for infant merchandise.

So accountant Targon, who formerly was an executive with a geothermal energy company, and advertising man Fridstein, created Right Start. Since 1987 its annual revenues have grown from $1.6 million to $21.7 million.

For the fiscal second quarter ended Nov. 27, a tougher selling environment amid recession trimmed earnings to $266,000 from $292,000 a year earlier, while revenue rose to $6.5 million from $4.6 million. The price of Right Start's newly issued stock has slipped to $4.125 from $5.75 a share.

Right Start opened a retail outlet next to its headquarters last November. The store is outfitted with a play area where children can test toys and an area where parents can nurse or change diapers.