Where to trial pushchairs

[ShelleyM]

Hi, expecting our first baby early 2015. Where would you recommend visiting to try out different prams and travel systems? Thanks

I'd recommend John Lewis, and then an independent baby shop local to you. You'll be able to try a wide variety of brands and discuss your needs to get recommendations tailored to you (e.g. Do you mainly use car or walk, live in a town or on a farm etc!). Good luck

We went to John Lewis, they had a really wide selection so at least you get to see all ends of the spectrum of what's actually available, even if every single brand isn't there. Mothercare can be good and the bigger the better - we have a really big one near us and it filled in the blanks on some of the cheaper / midrange models from like Graco, Britax which John Lewis didn't have in store. It helps you work out what aspects you actually want, which is good when you're clueless... EG I thought I wanted a uppababy Vista or icandy type thing, but when we tried picking them up / pushing them around and the assistants showed us how they folded, we changed our mind completely.
Then I came home and started googling incessantly and realised there were lots of brands out there that you don't see in the shops, but at least I had an idea of (eg) what 11kg weighs in pushchair terms, etcetera...

If you have one of the big mothercare worlds near you then they have a large selection.
That said, I got my travel system from mamas and papas (the zoom - I love it) but you can only get it in the mamas and papas shops.

I would browse at Jl and mothercare but also hunt out what independent shops you have locally, the good ones near me have many more pushchairs on the shop floor than Jl do. Our local Jl has about 15-20 models maximum, the nearest independent has 40-50 and more knowledgable staff.

Independent stores are full of very knowledgeable staff who really know what they are talking about. They have more brand choice usually - however it is worth visiting a couple because you may find for example that one has the local Bugaboo contract whereas the shop up the street has the iCandy one.