Why is Mothercare so expensive yet grotty?

[Two4One]

I was looking around my local Mothercare today and then again online when I got home. I have noticed that they are consistently more expensive than John Lewis, Boots etc for exactly the same items. Why does anyone still shop there? And the weird thing is, the stores are so horrid and everything "looks" so cheap and nasty (especially the clothes) you don't really want to buy there anyway. And as for the staff - they just look downtrodden and unhelpful.

This is my first time doing all this - I just always assumed Mothercare was a cheap shop. But everything I have bought so far has been significantly cheaper in John Lewis, Boots or any of the supermarkets. And the service is far better.

So how do they stay in business? I can see why a shop like, say, Selfridges, does well despite being a bit pricier for the same products than other dept. stores. They're offering a quality shopping experience that people enjoy. But Mothercare??? Who is shopping there?

I found exactly the same with MC this week. The Croydon branch don't even have a loo/ changing facitities/ I mean REALLY??????. How can you not have a loo in MOTHERCARE. Whats caring about that when at 38 weeks pregnant I have to leave my basket behind the counter and take my 2 yr old into BHS next door so that we can both go to the loo...Rant over lol

I find that NEXT is cheaper then MC now and the quality is a hell of a lot better. Of course you can only get clothes/shoes there. Dare I say it but for baby grows/sleep suits I went to Primarni (Primark) for my first and they are all in really good condition still so will be able to use them for my new baby.

I hate Mothercare too. Overpriced, even in the sale. And the toilets in our local, large store ALWAYS smell.

If given a choice, I would always shop elsewhere.

Our Mothercare/ELC is awful. Grubby and there are always piles of things in the aisles so that you can't get through with a buggy. Staff aren't interested in being helpful and you can't go in there without getting hijacked by the people from the Pixiephoto concession in the corner.

It is really close to our house so I do tend to pop in there in an emergency, so they get more of my money than they otherwise would.

Clothing the prices are the same as John Lewis and JojoMaman and you get so much better quality and choice at those than you do at Mothercare.
jaimeg I'm sorry but the Mylene K stuff is vile and chavvy, not 'good quality and stylish'.

As the mother of a son I object to the assumption that I want to dress my toddler as either a hooligan or a footballer or in entirely branded (ITNG/Thomas/Ben10) clothing. Their things for boys are hugely overpriced and vile and boring.

Thankfully our Sainsbury's which is next door to Mothercare is just about finished expanding and they are going to have a much larger range of children's clothes and other items so I will be able to avoid Mothercare in future - hooray!

Brixton branch is nice, and the staff are fine, but I hardly ever end up buying things there because I'm very price-sensitive for kids' clothes, and they always seem just that bit more expensive than Next, or the cheaper M&S ranges or the Gap sale.(and they're much more expensive than H&M, if I can face the queue to pay there).
Would buy school clothes there, but they always have a 3 for 2 option, but only have one of each size/colour, so I feel I'd be a mug to buy just one IYSWIM.

We went to MC in Northampton on our first "we have no idea what we are looking for" trip.

Following us having an arguement with each other about the type of travel system I wanted and hubby insisted it wasn't available, a lovely member of staff stepped in, agreed with me (I liked her straight away!) went through chassis, seat, cot top and car seat and then showed us alternative options that we could purchase on top.

I was all ready to order from there in October when we are ready to purchase for a Jan baby, however, a little investigation on line and I can get everything we want at over £250 cheaper elsewhere, I know you pay for customer service but it wasn't worth £250

But that Myleene Klass range is so -vulgar! Really tacky, there's no way any of my DDs would be seen wearing any of those clothes. But to be fair, most of the MC clothing range is a bit trashy ime, not just the MK stuff. And don't get me started on the maternity clothes. It's as if a 70 year old in the 1950s decided to design a range of maternity clothing and they've just recycled it for the past 60 years. And the quality is dreadful.

Oh God, yes, the Myleene Klass stuff is truly AWFUL.

Agreed - Myleene K range is truly dreadful. I don't want my 6 month old DD dressed in blacks and greys and looking like a teenager thanks, she is, after all, a baby.

Maternity clothing absolutely awful, stuck in the past, and far too expensive.

Stores are cluttered and cheap looking. Not a pleasurable experience at all. Staff are indifferent and stand around gossiping far too much.

Liverpool Aintree particularly bad for this. Warrington not too bad.

I've heard a whisper that Boots Mini Mode (which I absolutely love and have snapped up all their sale items these last few weeks) have joined forces with Mothercare to create 'Mini Club', launching next month. Interesting to see if it's as tacky-looking and expensive as Mothercare.

My brother had a baby girl last week and so as I have baby boy was desperate to rush out and buy pink babygros, got lovely pack of 3 in M&S for £10, the same thing in mothercare was £13.50. Not sure why anyone would shop there.

I went to the Harlow MC last Saturday with my parents to look at pushchairs. I was looking at one when a sales assistant came over with two people who were interested in it, grabbed it off me, and nearly hit me in the stomach in the process. We were furious.

Then, as she was giving them a demonstration of the pushchair, and my mum asked her a question about it, and she said "I'm with another customer" before walking off and ignoring us. Not only was she rude, but nearly hit a pregnant woman in the stomach.

Decided not to buy our pushchair from them. I can get it MUCH cheaper elsewhere. Can't say the Coventry or Leamington Spa MC stores are this bad, but I'm put off for life now.

Warrington one ( out of town) a couple of weeks ago was ok, eeally helpful over prams/car seats but a bit hard sell on the account. Didn't have what we wanted in the end so didn't buy though.

Stratford upon Avon today v helpful but crap stock, no bras in my size. No maternity t shirts in my size , no nighties that weren't pink, bedding v expensive.

Obviously looked for different things but I was dubious about mothercare before Warrington and am back to dubious again now.

I only like it for plain white vesties. Although they are £1-ish more expensive, they fit for an extra pound or so weightwise.

DD has grown out of her slightly cheaper M&S vesties, where the same size MC ones have still got plenty of growing room.

Apart from that, there isn't much to make it my preferred store other than it has the best range (apart from the lovely, yet expensive, independents) in walking distance from home.

Went in the store in liverpool today,it was lovely and clean and tidy,BUT,i thought they were overpriced..little socks and hats etc,got a few outfits,but think will go somewhere else..

I'm really disappointed by the range of boys clothing in mc (although the girls sections can be quite hideous with a sea of pinks and the occasional nice thing. Have not been too impressed with the Mylene Klass range either - seems to be entirely black puffa jackets and pink ra ra skirts in the lil' hooker look).

It would be much better to have some nice baby boy clothes that are not branded with cartoon characters, and are not always in navy, brown or khaki which are overpriced compared to other chainstores. It would be good too if there was a wider range for boys with funky but cute designs - brighter colours, bodenesque prints, applique t shirts.

Am a bit apprehensive that Blooming Marvellous has been taken over by Mothercare - does that mean that their clothes for boys will become equally limited too.

Oh dear. Resurrecting an ancient thread has rather back fired for you Jamie!

MC is ridiculously over priced. The online shopping is dreadful and you have to pay a small fortune for delivery presuming your item is in stock. John Lewis so much better ime.

Jamie, just read your bit about writing to head office if any complaints. Fair enough BUT:

I have 3 children and 2 jobs; I haven't got the time, energy or inclincation to do so. Nor do I care enough.

It's much easier just not to shop there!!!!

Had to get in on this one. I HATE Mothercare with a passion; our local store (Truro) is cramped, always boiling hot, has the tiniest range of baby boys' clothes (think, white sleepsuits and t shirts with 'here comes trouble') and the staff don't have a clue. I went in to stock up on Muslins a few months back, and the sales assistant was horrible. She really made everything feel like a chore and stared at my pregnant tummy with utter disgust I kid you not! I was amazed! Half the time when you go in there; there's a professional kiddies photographer trying to flog you stuff and because the store is so cramped, you couldn't get past them to get anything if you tried.

It's a bit better in Plymouth; the store is in the new shopping centre and the staff seemed to care a bit more. I was totally shocked when the manager asked if I needed help! But again; the baby boys' section is tiny compared to the baby girls and everything looks a bit... well, grotty. Not good enough when you can literally go into a Boots/M&S/JL/equivelent and find either exactly the same product, or a better quality one for cheaper. How are they still trading?!

they are not still trading in my locality. The Bath mothercare store closed nearly 3 years ago and the Salisbury one closed a couple of months ago. Our nearest store is now at least an hrs drive away and I don't think anyone round here is missing it much!

I complained to Head Office whilst still pregnant and therefore having the time! I bought a couple of maternity bits in there - rally poor quality, particularly the trackie bottoms which shrunk straight away. Took them back and explained that I had washed them at 30 degrees (the label gave 40 as a maximum) upon which the sales assistant tried to claimthat I'd washed them at too low a temperature, hence it was my own fault

Have had some lovely looking but poor quality baby clothing from there too, so now buy most of it in online JoJo and Blooming Marvellous sales. Was looking to buy a group 1 car seat with a 10% discount voucher that expired today, but found it was a lot cheaper at boots.com!

okay all these posts well majority are very bad!!

my one in liverpool (new one in clayton square) is i will admit a bit overpriced but the staff well I mean one young girl couldnt be lovelier!!

you have to go upstairs in there to see prams etc and I went up and saw the one I had been waiting to arrive!! Well I got excited asked for assistance and she came over big smile showed me how it worked (it was alarmed to the base it was standing on) and did her best to what she could do. she showed me how you lifted the car seat off the pram and and the carry cot and what came with price etc and then I asked how much all together she went off to find out and then she recommended the baby plan for it which for every £100 you spend you get £15 off

so anyway she was absolutely lovely very informative

and as I only look about 15 she must of been like :O in her head!! but never asked or pryed

very good experience :)

Went in my local mothercare when pregnant with my first, didn't know any better and have not ventured back in since. I found the staff unhelpful, unless you know exactly what you want (which makes their job a bit pointless). I picked my carseat with no help and asked if I could try it in the car, was told it fits in all, I explained wasn't happy to pay that much without knowing for definate, "oh but it's raining", got one round the corner at halfords instead. They had a 50% off sale and I took a cot mobile over that was in a bag as it was ex-display and had no box, it was grubby and needed a good wash, asked how much is was and the discount worked out at just 10%, so I explained that was a bit steep considering it's condition, and the "manager" who was serving me got out her pretend violin and played it and had a giggle at my expense. So I left everything at the till and explained I won't be back, and they could put the items back themselves.

Managed to find everything that I would have bought there, elsewhere and realised there really was no need to return to mothercare again, and I haven't and never intend to.

I've always found Mothercare clothes to be of quite good quality. I agree it's abit expensive though.

Now Next on the other hand, lovely style clothes but poor quality! I find with childrens clothes and adults that holes appear in them after not much use.

I did notice actually that they seem to have a really small boys clothes section and lots for girls

The staff are lovely in our local one (Southampton), but the shop is dire.

I went to look at cloth nappies, as I had a voucher, but I couldn't feel them and the range was teeny.

I bought a nursing bra in the end which is ill-fitting, but I had mastitis and was desperate.
The tills were broken though and I queued for an hour!
(I had driven 1.5 hours to get there.)

Mothercare is awful! I've hardly bought anything from them asthe customer service is appalling at our one in Bristol.
We were either ignored by assistants when buying our travel system. The onethat helped had no idea how to do anything with any of the buggies. Dh showed her how to operate one of them we'd seen elsewhere earlier!!!

The baby k range is disgusting- we used to have competitions to find the skankiest clothes we could for our babies- baby k won every time!!!

Don't get me started on the assistant who made me cry when she refused to help me with nursing bras when I was 37 weeks- because it was "far too early "
She eventually agreed to measure me but then told me I was a "weird size" so they had literally nothing for me in a 32f!

I did write to head office and never heard back!

The clothes are very poor quality- sleep suits stretched completely out of shape and felt v scratchy after only a couple of washes.

I'm pg with dc2 and haven't even looked at their maternity wear. I won't be giving them any of my money ever!!!