HIGH STREET MATERNITY-WEAR STORE - JUST CLOTHES-WOULD YOU SHOP THERE?

[milkmonster]

If there was a high street store that was exclusively maternity wear - no baby clothing or items - a regular store just like the ones you're familiar with such as Topshop, Evans, etc. would you, being pregnant, be interested in shopping there?

I've often wondered if this is a gap in the markeet having been pregnant twice and both times struggling to find decent maternity wear that's cheap to mid-price yet good quality.

Yes there's online Blooming Marvellous, etc or Isabella Oliver but they're sooo dear and yes there's tiny concessions in H&M, Topshop and Dorothy Perkins (if they have the stock in, they always seemed to have only a few items in). Even Mothercare is over-priced and not partucularly trendy.

But women are constantly pregnant, the recession might spark a baby boom (nights in rather than out ) and it's a store guarantedd to always have plenty of stock in, in all sizes, with cheap and mid-range pricing but good quality, extra large fitting rooms for bumps to get about in easily! and perhaps a decent buggy park area and even secure fenced-off area to plonk your other kiddies for 10 mins whilst you browse.

If it's a contstant market being pregnant, do you think it's a viable business idea?
Or do we all just wear our usual clothes til the bumps too big and then live in elasticated jog pants for the next 2 years?!

I think its a good idea. They do this sort of thing really well in the USA I was in San Francisco recently (last splurge before baby!) and they had at least 4 specialist shops within walking distance of my hotel. They were lovely welcoming places with v helpful staff who almost act as personal shoppers whilst you sit down with a cold glass of water. They also sold some maternity aids pillows etc. The maternity stores in London all seem to be in Fulham and Chelsea.
I get really pee'd off that next/m&s etc dont carry maternity in most stores. I like online shopping but sometimes you want to see the product in the flesh.
One of the shops I went in in the US also had strap on bumps so that you could see what the clothes would look like at different stages of pregancy.

In an ideal world, a range of maternity/nursing lingerie would be good too, with experienced fitters.

Agree that some baby clothes, gifts, general bits & bobs would broaden the portfolio. Maybe a second hand section?

You've got to think why there isn't a high-street maternity clothes store already - probably because it isn't financially viable? I'm sure there's specialist stores in London but I can't imagine it working anywhere else - sorry. Would love to be proved wrong though!

I'd shop there as long as it didn't include ANY stock that looked like it might have come from Mothercare/ Mothercare's maternity clothes, IMHO, look as if they have been designed by a ninety year old with bad taste and a penchant for beige.