How do you feel about Mothercare closing down???

[Monz1]

Interestingviews from mums. I think Mothercare is slightly overpriced tbh...

tyneandwear.sky.com/news/article/17868

Boots, eh? In that case, Mothercare can close down as and when it pleases. :)

I thought it was more a consolidation of the brands. Our small local town has both and the ELC unit is definitely the busier of the two but probably the overheads are higher (located in a mall with M & S etc rather than on the High Street where Mothercare is). Competition from supermarkets and Internet has damaged the more profitable aspects of MC.

I can't say I'm surprised.

I agree about it being overpriced. My brother bought a grobag for my son & it was £36! He has no kids so wouldn't know what to xpect to pay but £15-20 in other stores

I think it's a shame. I like their children's clothes, and their multipacks etc are good value, it's not that expensive in general, more than supermarkets but not as expensive as other high street stores.

They do a great range in maternity jeans too.

Awful awful shop.
I only go there if I'm absolutely desperate.
Those Myleen klass clothes were the last straw. Vile.
Can't believe it's lasted so long.

I hadn't been near one for over 10 years but at Christmas went in to buy something for my nephew. I got some great bargains, 4 outfits and 2 pairs of soft shoes for £25 but when I took them up to the counter the surly assistant wouldn't let me have a two-piece set for £3.25 because she didn't believe it was that cheap! She went to the rail, checked other sets out and grudgingly let me have it saying ' we don't normally sell them THAT cheap'. She actually tutted as she rung it up.

I nodded to myself that the friendliness of the staff hadn't changed at all!

I only really go to Mothercare during their sales, which are pretty good. They generally seem to overprice a lot of their stuff and basics such as baby grows are waaay to pricey.

Awful shop, always have to queue for ages at the tills even when it isnt busy

Kiddiecare are about to open a massive store near me, think they will do well.

My ex dance teacher was the area manager of Mothercare and apart from that they paid his wages and kept a roof over his families' head, he had nothing good to say about the place.

I've bought things from Mothercare and I don't find them good quality. The clothes are overpriced and go tatty after a few washes. If I was going to buy expensive clothes I would rather go to Next or Monsoon but for every day play wear I'll stick to Primark, Asda and Peacocks.

It's sad about the jobs that will be lost but I won't miss the store if ours closes down.

Had a look at the furniture when preg with dc1, they wanted £100 for a changing table

Love Ikea furniture, got the changing table from there for £20.

I went there a few times when I was pg, you know when you wake up and decide you need to get something, it needs to be sorted that day and no other day would do or is that just me? so off I went to the mothercare thinking if they didn't have it no one would, always left empty handed and disappointed!! Usually lot what I needed at the babies r us across the road or on line!

I've only ever bought baby clothes in there, and was at the prices, especially as the quality is only similar to supermarket clothes.

I'd be sad though, if only because ELC may go too. I like ELC - I know it gets loads of stick on here about the pink / blue gendered stuff and I agree with this, but I still think they're great for baby / toddler toys.

Sad that another shop is going and that people are going to lose their jobs - but for a baby shop it isn't particularly baby focussed in terms of customer care. The assistants in our local shop are useless - I always feel as if I'm being a bother to them for actually wanting to buy something.

Yes queuing at the tills can be horrendous but were else can you get the advice and fitting of car seats? For that I think they are fab

The local high street store is a nightmare to get a buggy round. The ELC bit is stuffed in a corner at the back. The stock is dusty and doesn't seem to change from one month to the next. They seem to have new clothes every season but every other aspect of the displays are the same. The staff are friendly but clueless about anything not on the shelf. They don't keep a good stock level of anything.

The not-so-local out of town store is huge, spacious, full of displays, shoes, pictures, toys, bigger nursery stuff - but its still just as difficult to get a buggy round and the stock still doesn't seem to change.

We have no kiddicare/babiesRus equivalent locally so while I think Mothercare is shambolic I will be disappointed if the bigger store goes. Where else can I test out buggies, see cots for size, test drive the high chairs etc? Nowhere.

I quite liked it, I like the packs of sleepsuits they have and they pricematch which means I got £90 off my Bugaboo. I quite like having them close - sometimes have good deals on wipes and nappies.

I bought all the baby equipment from there. Never bought clothes though.

My problem was that all the buggies were locked up so people can't nick them (fair point if you live where we do) but it always took forever to find a member of staff to unlock them and give a quick demo.

Same for car seats. The few members of staff would be right over the other side of the shop, no one based near all the big equipment to give advice and demo the stuff.

They need a demo / customer service team as well as people on the checkout IMO. I resented having to queue at the checkout to ask when a member of staff would be free to help me look at buggies / car seats.

Very few large products were kept in stock, it all had to be ordered in and delivered to home. Even though it was 5yrs ago I remember cursing about it being such a faff.

Never bought toys from there either, all too boy blue or girl pink, or is that ELC which has also gone downhill lately .

It would be a shame if the company closed, but they really need to sort their customer service out. All the individual staff were lovely, there just aren't enough of them.

And behind the tills is always messy. When I worked in shops I would freak at a messy till point. They have kids chocolate on the till points too.

um...the company has not gone bust, they are just closing stores - 90% of which are ELC stores, not Mothercare ones!

I have found most of the Mothercares are shite, but I have found a few that are really good, kept nice and clean, tidy and staff are wonderful! But then have seen some at other end of the scale and you almost cant believe the staff all work for the same company - surely they all go through the same training, etc?!

It's my official last day tomorrow.

I'm classed as Mothercare staff but I'm actually old school ELC.

It's funny to say but i'm actually feeling nostalgic for the God awful orange polo shirt we used to have to wear!

I'm going to miss my customers, especially the children, have watched so many of them grow up, had one little boy who has been coming in since he was born (he's 8 now) in tears saying how much he's going to miss his toy shop ladies.

oh ABF .

ABF

I stopped shopping in Mothercare because I went in needing an emergency double buggy (mine had broken) and they had none in stock. Not one. In a "mothercare world" superstore thingy.

And I stopped shopping in ELC because they became the same as everywhere else - plasticky gendered shite - rather then the high quality gender neutral they used to do. I think the bright pink globe was the finisher for me.

to be honest its really expensive i got most of my baby stuff from wilko and tesco, and parms overpriced tat i got all of this
www.pramsforsale.co.uk/prams-pushchairs-buggies/PR04590

for £500 i doubt i could get a stick pram for that in mother care
the clothing is really went to buy 3 babygrows the other day £15 having a bubble they are, went primark 3 for £6

Yes, CrunchyFrog, we've been to a huge out of town one to get specific things three times and they didn't have any stock (not even obscure things - a Maxi-Cosi car seat, for example!).