Mothercare shutting down

[Mumof21989]

I can't say I'm surprised really. They have the most beautiful selection of clothes for children under six. I would love to buy them but I can't really justify £13 for a pack of baby vests when Asda sell them for £7.50 for example.I remember going in there with my second baby and looked at everything and came out with two sleepsuits for £10 and that was it. I couldn't justify the £14 for a sleepsuit or £16 for dungarees for a newborn. The bedding sets were beautiful but they wanted around £60-£100 for cot bedding. The blankets were expensive. The sheets were expensive. The cotton wool was even expensive. The Moses baskets were way more than asda etc.

Basically they needed to reduce their prices to survive. Which I guess they couldn't do. But it's sad now as the trip to Mothercare with both pregnancys to choose a pram bring back warm memories. It's a shop I loved going in in those early months but often came out empty handed. It's one of the only baby shops with all the prams, cots and everything else you can imagine set up to see. Whilst Asda etc sell baby stuff alot is online. It seems sad that future generations won't get the baby shop experience. I even had my scans at Mothercare!

I can see how it happened. The stuff they sold is simply no longer specialist

Thing is most the stuff I've bought from there is the same price as amazon so I did mostly pop in mothercare for them rather than waiting. Things such as gro bags, nappy bin liners bips stuff like that. The maternity wear I bought jeans but found everything else a bit old. However once bought a car seat and no staff anywhere to help us, other times id gone in they'd have huge displays on the shop floor making it tricky to get a pushchair around and my pushchair is really compact. Once went to use the baby change in there and it was closed due to a staff event!? Other times I've been waiting to be served and can see staff chatting instead of helping on tills. I think people will probably say Internet shopping it killing shops but if these shops would provide a better shopping experience then would certainly go a long way.

I will be sad to see it go but I can see why it has happened. I have bought from them fairly frequently since DS has been born, mainly because it is easy to get to for us and has great parking right outside, plus good toilets/changing facilities. It has also been handy when I've needed something quickly, like when there was the heat wave all of a sudden and I realised I didn't have any summer weight gro bags, and the other day when I wanted to buy a walker but wanted to see them in real life.
I don't think they are the go-to shop for car seats/prams anymore though, which is probably what was their most profitable area. There are so many knowledgeable Facebook groups for car seats that I trust more than Mothercare, and I would rather buy a pram/buggy direct from the brand personally I think.

Last time I went in there they had a really overweight middle aged male sales assistant find me in the lingerie section (can you call nursing bras lingerie?) - he introduced himself and said he could get a woman to help me if I liked but then continued to stand there and blather on and on about him being new there and gave me a big talk about teething which I didn't ask for. He then found me elsewhere in the store to continue his chat - no amount of 'get lost' body language was working. He just wanted to carry on with his car salesman type pitch.

I came out and thinking I wouldn't bother shopping there any more, as a new mum the last thing I wanted was some bloke haranguing me when I'm trying to buy a bra. Why didn't they stick him on deliveries or the tills.

Their Little Bird stuff clothing is great and I'll be sad to see it go.

I'll be sad to see it go BUT my local store has barely had the prices on any of the items for years and always had massive queues because of people faffing about. They really needed to pull their socks up. However, I'll miss the cute wellies and Little Bird stuff (although I guess this will carry on in its own right now?)

I found them simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming when I went shopping in there for my son.
However, their loss is as disappointing to me as toys r us.

I'm panicking. The 2 for £10 dresses and jumpers etc are my go to for DD everyday wear. Supermarkets are ok but I do find you have to wade through more crap in girls section to get decent stuff. Perhaps that's just me and one for the feminism board

When I heard I can't say I was surprised.

I've never had a negative experience in Mothercare, but when I can go to my local Asda superstore and completely out my baby out, including car seats and prams etc for a fraction of the price, it can't be a good thing for specialist company.

Nevertheless, it's a shame that another well known name is leaving the high street.

I agree it's very much like the feeling of toys r us closing. I like the fact it's a traditional experience. I do online shop because where I live we don't have Mothercare or a decent sized next etc. I love next clothes my daughter. My son I go more for Asda or h&m. Sometimes boots. I tend to buy from Mothercare only when they had a sale to be fair. I would of supported them alot more if they cut their prices by 25%. They'd be abit more affordable then. The trouble with charging £18 for one outfit for a three month old is you can go to a supermarket and get 3 outfits for that so it's a no brainer. Plus when they grow out of things they are still perfect.

I think you are right they are not the main place for prams etc now. They used to be the trusted place to go. I did get my daughter's highchair and booster seat from Mothercare. Also her carseat. But I think stores would of made thousands more pounds a week if they sold clothes cheaper. I did read earlier they can't do that as supermarkets have more money and can change their range much quicker for this reason. I guess it's just all the old shops can't survive in this modern day shopping world.

I do think Asda for example has killed off lots of businesses. You can go in there and get cheap food. You can kit your kids out for a cheap price. you can style your home. You can buy all your bedding and kitchen stuff.

I hate to say it but I predict debenhams, marks and Spencers and mamas and papas will not be far behind. I imagine John Lewis will also struggle eventually. All too expensive for the average household.

John Lewis has been better for nursery stuff for years IMO. But Mothercare is such a lovely experience, will be sad to see it go. The last of ELC as well.

I wouldn't buy a car seat from Asda. A nursery specialist is better.

I never thought of ElC. Are they just sold in Mothercare or do they belong to them.

I will say ELC seem to make the happyland prices up as they go along. 2 years ago I got the pink cottage for my daughter for about £25 with some money off. I've noticed some times it's sold for £60 now. Sometimes it's sold for £30. Its a rip off at £60 and not worth that price at all. Again no surprise unfortunately.

There is a shop called precious little ones that sells online. They are basically Mothercare online but cheaper. They do lots of carseats etc.

The issue I had with Mothercare wasn't the price of the clothes but the price, considering the quality. I'm happy to pay £15 for 3 baby sleepsuits if they are good quality (e.g. organic cotton, thick material) but Mothercare always felt like supermarket quality at department store prices.

I imagine their main issue is that people just buy cots, pushchairs etc. online now rather than going to Mothercare. Even if someone does want the in store experiences, those items can be found everywhere now o Mothercare doesnt have a niche.

I wouldn't buy a car seat from Asda. A nursery specialist is better.
Surely if the product is the same it makes no difference. For example, the cosatto zoomi is sold by both asda and mothercare. I would just buy it from whichever had the better price.

I like next sleepsuits and next pyjamas for my kids. £24 for three pairs of PJ's for my four year old. Each set lasts two years being washed twice a week. Best ones I've found. I also managed to sell her sleepsuits on eBay because they washed so well.

Asda sleepsuits were never long enough for my first baby. She would always be a size bigger in Asda. Where as my son is shorter and still in 12_18 months in some things yet he's almost two.

Mothercare I've only had a few sale bits from there and the odd full price.

I also agree that a carseat from Asda with the same brand will be just as good so I don't see the reason behind that.

really overweight middle aged male sales assistant

Yes, employing overweight / middle aged/ male people. How awful

Anyway, I gave up on ours when they closed the toilet and baby change room. It was a bit away from the town centre, so handy to have those facilities. It was a lovely shop, but just too expensive.

@bertiebotts I wouldn't personally buy one from Asda, I'm a ERF fanatic!

But used it as an example of supermarkets now being a one stop shop.

I was over in the Canaries in May and couldn't even get paracetamol at a supermarket, very different!

ELC was bought by The Entertainer toy shops recently so the ELC branded toys (Happyland etc) are there now.

Ah really. I didn't realise. I wonder what will happen to baby bond they use Mothercare for their clinics.

Not shocked at all. Everything in there is over priced. Went in a couple of times when expecting DS. Bottles and sterilisers were £15 more in Mothercare than amazon and a perfect prep was double the price!

I don't think ni have actually ever bought anything in there

Asda won't have staff trained in car seat fitting or advice, most likely. A company like Mothercare will have reps from the big companies like Britax, Maxi Cosi come in to train the staff about how to fit and use the different seats. This is important as if a car seat doesn't fit your car or child correctly,

If you want the best price go online, but it's not the safest way to buy a car seat. Best is a car seat specialist retailer (small and not always easy to find), second is a nursery store, including department stores, third a car type store like Halfords and lastly a large general store such as supermarkets/Argos, which is likely the same as going online in terms of staff expertise/advice (ie, you will get none).

Also I find Asda's selection of car seats to be very poor. If you're safety conscious I'd recommend going almost anywhere else. They don't have any brands I'd consider good quality - a couple of Maxi Cosi seats, but even those are very old, basic models now and not as good as their newer options. It's not about price either, you can get car seats for cheaper than Asda's selection for a better quality, safer model.

Oops, missing sentence end - if the car seat doesn't fit your child and/or car correctly it may not perform as it should. In the event of an accident the car seat acts as your child's seatbelt, so it really is worth being confident it's fitted properly, whether that means buying from somewhere the staff can properly help and advise or doing detailed research about the seat fitting yourself.

Will they continue online??