Where are the pregnancy shops?

[Knanks]

Hi! I'm going to be a first time mum (currently 20 weeks) and I'm having a hard time locating physical shops to sell me things. It seems like everything is online now, but reviews of important items will say things like "test how it does to see if it's right for you before you purchase," so it would be lovely to be able to do that. It would also be wonderful to actually at least physically look at clothes before I buy (I've bought a couple duds already). Every clothing shop that I've physically been into and asked where their maternity section is has flatly told me that they don't carry it in store and to check their website. I also haven't came across any physical shops that seem to sell prams, travel systems, and nursery furniture.

I live in south Lincolnshire, but at this point I'd be willing to travel further afield to physically shop for things.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!!

Do you have a Smyths Toy shop near you? The bigger ones have prams and cots in stock.

Larger H&Ms still carry maternity wear in-store. They're about the only high street shop that does.

John Lewis or other large department stores have prams, cots, nursery furniture in store. Or else you'll have to look for an independent baby/nursery shop.

We got prams and car seats from independent shops 7 years ago, have a look locally and see what there is. I agree though, generally all shopping has gone to shit.

nurseryland.co.uk/
This might be too far, it's in Wakefield and where we got nursery things.

Department stores like John Lewis, Fenwick still have baby departments, as well as mamas & papas and smyths toy store.

For clothes, I've only found H&M do actual maternity clothes in store. Everything else is online

If you contact the head office/customer services for most stores they will tell you where they stock maternity wear.

As for baby and nursery items and pushchairs I went to smyths and John Lewis. With my first Mothercare was still open so it was much easier.

Another vote for H&M, and when I was pregnant in 2019 larger New Look stores had a very limited maternity range. And Jojo Maman Bebe, although the clothes aren’t my thing I ended up buying a couple of items anyway.

Smyths or John Lewis for prams.

There's so few around now, we used to have a mamas & papas and mothercare at the local retail parks and both have gone. There's a few independent places around but you need to ask around locally e.g. www.pramcentre.co.uk/

We used John Lewis for the big items but you definitely don’t need nursery furniture. If it’s labelled as ‘nursery’ the price will be higher and you’re better buying regular furniture . Same with changing bags - stupid price when a sports shop rucksack is more useful.

Some bigger Primarks have maternity clothes in. The one in the MetroCentre in Gateshead does if that is any good to you

Very true @Parker231, I got sucked into a matching nursery furniture hole, and am now stuck with a stupid small wardrobe on a wall which would be much better with a bespoke shelving unit, or even a couple of Billy bookcases.

Independent nursery shops where the only ones that I found to stock prams etc.

I'm not sure how up to date this is for clothing but you could call the stores to check
www.mums-to-be.co.uk/maternitywear/

I often found bits in asdas sale section. I assume that they are returns from other people's online purchases.
Although, I found that the best idea was to buy bundles of clothing from eBay and Facebook.

I’d go to Ikea for the nursery furniture and John Lewis to look at prams/car seats. Some H&Ms have maternity in store or if you want fancier stuff see if there’s a Seraphine near you or JoJo Maman Bebe.

For maternitywear I found New Look, H&M Asda George and GAP the best. Except for H&M their maternity ranges are all online - I used to just order loads of stuff, order to the store, and immediately return anything I didn’t like.

There used to be an independent baby shop in Leicester (I'm going back a while) and there's certainly a John Lewis and a smyths.

Sainsbury's have maternity wear in-store at Lincoln.
There's a nursery shop in Boston called Pushchair Expert.

@gogohm

There used to be an independent baby shop in Leicester (I'm going back a while) and there's certainly a John Lewis and a smyths.

Rosies is in Oadby. But it’s got a tiny range and is more high end designer. Not really worth a trip into Leicester especially. But may be worth a visit on the way to Market Harborough and Joules / Jo Jo Maman Bebe / Monsoon.

Baby planet in Derby has a fantastic selection of prams, and some furniture. I think they have a couple of other branches in the Midlands too.

Jojo maman bebe stock some maternity wear and some smaller baby items

Oh and we went to John Lewis for the Pram

All the big supermarkets have baby clothes etc they're just in the childrens section not maternity.

We bought our nursery furniture , pram and car seat from John Lewis with our last child. One of our children had a set from IKEA and our 2 eldest used the same set from mamas and papas. I never bought a lot of maternity clothes but the ones I did were a mixture of new look, Top shop and Jo Jo.

@FennecShandDoesEverything

Larger H&Ms still carry maternity wear in-store. They're about the only high street shop that does.

John Lewis or other large department stores have prams, cots, nursery furniture in store. Or else you'll have to look for an independent baby/nursery shop.

And larger Sainsbury's TU.

JoJo Maman Bebe do a range of maternity clothes in store.

Some bigger Boots stores will carry a display of prams as they’ve taken on some of Mothercare

Thanks so much, everyone! I guess the H&M I went to was too small then. I've been able to get a few maternity pieces online from Seraphine, Jo Jo Maman Bebe, and New Look. My husband and I plan to go find the place in Boston this weekend and we'll definitely have to go to our John Lewis and see if they carry prams and such.