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

REally don't care. Same as Boots; they sell stuff you can get cheaper elsewhere.

I bought my big stuff for ds from the internet (pram, car seat) and tend to shop in supermarkets for clothes.

My mum still has a baby vest of mine (over 30 years old) from MC; but she is still bitter at the price of it!

DS1 is 19, so back then there was less alternatives to MC, so do feel a certain sadness.

Personally felt it was a mistake to close town centre stores and move out of town. Rarely went after our local one did that.

I used to get a lot of stuff from them with DS1, when I knew no better and, well, had more money to spend. Mostly it's pretty soulless, gendered stuff though - clothing is v unimaginative and the same blah beige'n'blue for boys every time. Had some quite nice maternity wear from there. But bra fitting always has been shite, the customer service is crap, and nobody there seems to know what they're selling. If I need new vests or babygros now, I'll get them from Sainsbury or somewhere like that.

The Mylene Klass tat just makes me snigger!

I won't be sorry to see the back of them. Staff are rude, surly and unhelpful. Stock is not by nice and worse still they add on the odd pound here and there and would get away with it if I wasn't paying attention at the till. Have stopped shopping there and will now pay more for better service elsewhere.

The Myleene Klass range was/ is horrific. I was surprised she put her name to the chavvy slutty range. Thought she was more 'klassy'

I can only echo what others have said. I rarely go to our big Mothercare as I find it pricey and anytime I have bought stuff I've always had to wait ages at the tills whilst numerous staff members loiter about the store.

I shop online or get clothes at Sainsburys, gap, h&m.

Sadly I think we've all moved on whilst MC has stood still. The arrival of Kiddicare superstore won't be helping either. (or the dominance of Amazon)

Their maternity wear is bad. I bought a bra recently, and it is designed so badly, has seams right across the nipple, which is really not what I need what with being so flaming itchy all the time!
Also, I bought 2 shirts and a pair of trousers - the trousers, again designed badly, the 'bump band' bit is far too short, and cuts my bump in half, and is badly sewn. The shirts have a million loose threads and fit badly.

I think this has been coming for a number of years. I do not like Mothercare because I think that they have traded in a slovenly and arrogant manner off their old reputation.

In our local Mothercare, nothing people wanted was ever in stock. I would hear people complaining in the car park "that's the last time I am coming here" etc. The shop/stock was dirty and not well managed at all. Help from assistants was non existant and I began to look for alternative shops for everything from buggies to clothes. The last time I went in there, I was looking at carseats on high shelves and there were no assistants anywhere. I drove to John Lewis and bought 2 car seats there. It is no wonder this has happened.

Last straw for me was a 16 year old Saturday girl (nothing wrong with that but lacked experience) reading the instructions for fitting a nursing bra from the back of the packet in the changing room with me. Was very polite but did point out that I could do that myself and asked for someone else who was equally clueless. Went to their superstore out of town - not one cot top changer in the whole store.

It also irritates me when you go to the till and they ask 'Were you able to get everything you needed?' When you reply 'no' and list things they did not have they have no solution.

I am not surprised either. They were handy when I needed some small baby things that aren't widely available though, DD was swamped by newborn stuff.

But my local store - the customer service has been poor for years, shabby store, hard to get a pushchair around, ignorant staff, hardly any prices on the shelves so no idea just how overpriced until you get to the till. My local ELC is great though and I have been using it for about 5 years now.

I'm not surprised.
In the 10 years I have been a mum to 3 little ones, I have found their stores poorly stocked, expensive and with rude unhelpful staff.

I went in just the other day as my friend has just had a baby - she wanted me to pick up some maternity pads on my way over to hers. they had ONE packet left in the whole shop - and it doesn't get much more basic than that does it?
Crap!

They need to go back to their roots. I got some Mothercare things from my mother that I had as a child in the 70s. Great quality and classic kids stuff. Something a bit like Jojo Maman Bebe is now really.
No more Mylene please!

If they listened more to Market they would have rolled out training to install extended car seats and could become a leader but no their car seat "specialists" just look at you like you have two heads.

I don't like the manager at our, she's very very grumpy and sighs all the time.

WILL NOT smile.

The ladies who work under her are brilliant though.

I'm afraid to say I don't really like ELC...bits and bobs are good but the whole thing is overly packaged, it's all 'rounded up' so you want something they've decided to sell, like say a jack in the box and it's too good to be £7.50, so it has to be £10. Nothing in between iyswim. And then you look and realise it's gone up from last year and is now £12.50.

It's like so, so top down, it's oversimplified, it's awful in that respect. Most stuff there you can buy somewhere else, like an independant toy shop, for far less money and without the patronising feel to it.

It's all talk and no trousers, basically. The staff are lovely, generally, though. It's just a shame they work for such a naff company.

I am amazed they've managed to cling on this long. Cluttered shops, usually disinterested staff and mediocre products that are often out of stock.

I think it speaks volumes that it's easier to get a pram around Halfords than it is Mothercare.

It's a shame that ELC is suffering too though. Now there's a shop that understands its target market.

Couldn't give a shit. There's nothing there you can't get in a dozen other places. Their customer service is shit and many of their staff are very unhelpful.

Are you asking us this in order to write some sort of article?

Now I think "meh". Back in the 90s when I had my older children, it was actually a decent shop. Now it's a cluttered purveyor of over-priced tat with staff who don't know their arse from their elbow.

Agree re ELC with you Crunchy Frog. It used to be really good quality, lots of quality wooden toys, now just plastic gendered crap.

As I don't personally shop there it doesn't really make a difference however its sad that many people will end up without jobs and it will impact greatly on their lives.

I think nearly 14 years ago as soon as I got my BFP I dashed into Mothercare oohing and aahing over the stuff I had never seen before. I even bought some of it. V exciting.
Two and a half years later i had wised up. So when 2nd BFP arrived I got all the stuff from elsewhere far cheaper and nicer.

They don't sell anything you can't get elsewhere. For cheaper usually, and with better customer service.

The clothes they sell are no better quality than the supermarket stuff but cost a shocking amount more. Why spend 15 quid on 3 sleepsuits when you can get the same for less than a tenner in Asda/Tesco/Primark?

Why buy a pram from them when you can get it cheaper in Kiddiecare/Tesco or the same price in Boots but claim your Advantage card points?

I've actually bought a lot in Mothercare but only because it would be a pity to waste my lovely SIL's 20% discount. Otherwise I'd have got it all elsewhere, probably Boots to claim my points. And Boots do better deals imo.

I have been forced to buy a couple of things in there when I couldn't find them elsewhere (Wellington boots and a rain coat) but they are expensive the shops are laid out shit, my local one you have a hells own job getting the pushchair round, which seems very odd.

ELC I rather like tho they have some nice stuff in there granted thats over priced too and I tend to buy during sales and I can't get the pushchair round that bloody shop and all but still, some nice stuff there.

I couldn't give a toss about either MC or ELC tbh.

Mothercare is overpriced and tatty, their clothes are ugly, poor quality and expensive. I stopped shopping in ELC when they started making pink and blue everything.. any shop that thinks girls need to have a pink globe or a pink easel are not getting a penny of mine.

Kiddicare are opening a massive superstore by us and it' just over the road from a massive MC..i'll give the MC a month before it shuts.

I got all my baby stuff from Ikea and the supermarkets.

The last time I went in ( to one of the stores mentioned in the article) I had to walk through the manager and one of his staff having a fag in the shop doorway. Nice.

Glad I'm not the only one that hates the blue/pink ELC it's got so rubbish never go there any more.

Mothercare does has some really lovely merchandise, but is let down by very poor customer service and staff who really don't understand the products. Compared to the children's dept at John Lewis they are ill-informed and frequently don't know or understand the merchandise they sell. I agree with the comment that says Mothercare don't seem to want customer feedback. Many of the shops aren't on the ground floor, they are in soulless shopping centres and as a place to shop with a small child in a buggy are often overstuffed with products and you can't move around. I don't agree that the offers aren't great, but they are always on either the same goods or already discounted goods. It is already more pleasurable shopping in the larger Boots stores for clothes and there is no loyalty scheme nor any acknowledgement that you may be a customer for at least 5/6 years. It would be a real shame to lose them on the high street, I don't want to have to shop in Supermarkets for the baby/toddler related merchandise, I want to spend less time in shops like that. Mothercare should talk to mums, and try and focus on what their core business is in the UK. I'm sure people haven't given up on them entirely.