to expect to be able to shop with my DS in his buggy?

[Reeta30]

I've been out shopping with my 11wk DS in his buggy. Too many shops have their stands too close together so I can't fit his buggy past. This means I can't move round the shop and browse for what I need. I would have thought that in these times shops would need my custom. I just walk back out now when I can't get moving. I know it is coming up to Christmas and there is more rubbish stock out for sale, but still you need to be able to reach it to buy it!

How does one shop for clothes if baby is in a sling?

"It may well be online shopping for the next while." Good for you OP.

These days I absolutely can not cope with shopping. The heat... the garish light... the music... the PLEBS URGH

So how anyone could even contemplate inflicting that horror on themselves with a buggy is beyond me. I've lost the ability to shop without tabbed browsing and pinterest. Its an evolutionary thing IMhumbleO.

YANBU it makes me very cross when shops are inaccessible.

I had words with the manager at our local Card Factory shop - my DD2 is 7.5 and we use a Maclaren Major (SN buggy) which is pretty big. We couldn't get around the shop, at least not without taking out half of their stock and displays

I asked them who decided on the store layout and she sheepishly said she did. I said I appreciated it was difficult fitting all the stock into a small place but if customers couldn't physically get around the shop there was no point having lots of stuff that many customers couldn't access.

She agreed with me, but whethere it will be any better next time we're there I don't know. I doubt it.

If you can't fit a buggy in the aisles, you can't fit a wheelchair.

Ditch the competitive misery people and see that the problem is exactly the same for both disabled and parents.

It drives me up the wall. Even big stores like M&S put crap in the middle of their aisles at this time of year and navigating the place with DS2's Major buggy is a pain in the arse because I keep having to change route. And yes, there's shops I can't even get him with him (Specially in Durham which isn't even all that lone able bodied adult friendly in places). I really feel for older people who need to use wheelchairs or walking aids or who are partially sighted

One tries clothes on at home and returns the ones which do not fit / look like a tent / etc etc.

I think the difference with a wheelchair is that people will make an effort to allow a wheelchair through. Well, I do, anyway. Buggies, however, are usually driven through shops by mothers with a bit of a "right of way" attitude.

It's all those extra cardboard stands that pop up at the corners of aisles that annoy me, they just shove them up anywhere so people can't get past and then expect them not to get knocked over. Superdrug, Boots I'm talking about you and as mums with babies must be one of your key customer groups you should know better.

Just knock stuff over. They'll soon learn.

Ooh, I love taking the buggy shopping! DS will tip out one day, with all the stuff I fit in/on. I've never had a space problem, but I have a tiny, manouverable one. DS is only 5 months though, so I might just not have enough experience!

try doing it with a wheelchair and baby!

M&S annoy me especially as they have made it really hard to get to the lift with a wheelchair or buggy near me as the aisles are in the way - wtf is that about?

"Buggies, however, are usually driven through shops by mothers with a bit of a "right of way" attitude"

Probably because miserable fuckers won't move politely out of the way to allow then through.

I didn't find it too much of a problem tbh. Smaller shops are difficult sometimes, but they only have so much floor space so I understand why things can be a squeeze.

In that situation I'd park the pram (and it was a pram, not a buggy) and hoik ds out, or leave the pram outside with a friend (obv. not so easy if you're alone).

I too find competitive misery tiresome but it's relevant here imo. Buggy pushers have workarounds not available to many wheelchair users.

But the point is that if you can't fit a buggy through, you can't fit a wheelchair through. Where is the need for competition? "Yes, I know - I have the same problem with my wheelchair" is more appropriate here.

yanbu
I complained once as I couldn't get my dd round Matalan,(hardly a tiny shop) as they had so much crap in the way, they didn't care, that was when she was in a buggy, never taken her back,

oh and now dd is in a wheelchair we just ram the stuff

If clothes shopping with baby in sling you take them off and put them in the floor.

Or, you do what I do and ram raid. Buy blind then take home to try, I HATE changing rooms.

Oh FGS. I used a massive bulky travel system for TWO years and then a tiny stroller for a year and never had a problem with getting into nooks and crannies of shops. What a pathetically stupid thing to get worked up about. PARK IT ON THE SIDE AND LOOK AT STUFF. Why the hell do people make a mountain out of a molehill?

I'm a carer and if I'm out with somebody in a chair I just tell them to drive on through, if things happen to get knocked over because there isn't enough space it's the shops problem! Some places are brilliant though, Claires Accessories can and will move all of their racks right out of the way before they get bulldozed

Pushing a pushchair is like driving a car. You use all the same manoeuvers - parallel parking, reversing around a corner...parking in a place. Always straighten the buggy wheels when you stop. If you can drive a car, then you should be able to push a pushchair and stop complaining about shop floors.

Oh this drives me mad. I've gone from getting annoyed trying to get a buggy into small spaces to now trying to get my walking frame thingymabob into them. Pisses me off a lot actually. Not good in case of emergency either - if you're stuck in one of these awkward spaces with a buggy/pram/walker/wheelchair trying to get out.

It gets worse the closer you get to Christmas. Boots seems particularly bad at any time of year.

It would be great if people had a polite word with the manager about accessibility - I have done this in a few places and stands have been moved. If we can barely get in with a paediatric wheelchair, an adult wheelchair user would have no chance.

Sometimes the staff seem to have forgotten that accessibility is meant to be maintained and it just seems to take a reminder.

Some shops seem however do not seem to care much.

A sling is a good idea, I have a hip sling and it is brilliant. I hate shopping though with anyone under 20(!) so much prefer to sit down with a cuppa and shop on line. Much easier. YADNBU, it irks the hell out of me.