MNHQ here: thoughts on Mothercare (NOW CLOSED)

[FinnMumsnet]

Hello,

The BBC have been in touch with Mumsnet to gauge your opinions on Mothercare.

We'd love to hear anything and everything you've got to say -- do you shop at Mothercare? (Or have you in the past?) If so, what do you like about it? If not, why not? How does it compare to the alternatives? What does it do well, and what less well? Have your views changed over time?

Please feel free to post in as much or as little detail as you'd like.

Thanks,
MNHQ

[TheColdDoesBotherMeAnyway]

And I seem to remember the CEO coming on here and asking for opinions. Which he then ignored, because nothing changed!

[TheWeeBabySeamus1]

I really like Mothercare, the baby/toddler clothes are lovely and the staff have always been helpful.

Unfortunately the large store in my city has closed and all now it's just a concession in Debenhams - so a really limited range.

[CryingShame]

DS is 7 now but I found them very good for maternity clothes, and got them delivered to home. I was surprised how well the tiems stood up to Next etc. The stores themselves, not so good. Our nearest one had poor lighting and insufficient stock - there's no point having buy 2 get a 3rd free offers if you don't have 3 of the same bloody thing in stock - this was baby / toddler vests, nothing remarkable. I wouldn't get expecting parents a voucher for mothercare whereas my mother would have done 30 years ago. I'd do a voucher for M&S instead, or Boots as their baby grows are really vibrant and not gender specific - green crocodiles, red buses etc.

[ifigoup]

The Exeter store is okay.

Good things:

• The existence of a feeding room and a toilet cubicle big enough to get into with a buggy.
  
• The Little Bird and My K/Baby K ranges (most of the other kids' clothes are horrid).
  
• They sell formula (powder and liquid) cheaper than Boots or Sainsbury's.
  
• Some of the ELC stuff is good.
  
• It's centrally-located.
  

Bad things:

• The feeding room is often dirty and the bottle warmers are broken.
  
• They don't stock lots of things that seem like real basics to me (like replacement Moses basket mattresses).
  
• The maternity wear is all dowdy and overpriced.
  
• None of the staff seem to know anything about the carseats they stock.

[LBOCS2]

Peace, Tesco do vests etc in larger sizes too, FYI.

I concur with the majority of comments above. It's expensive, has a poor selection of maternity clothes and baby 'essentials', and last time I was in there I really struggled to spend a voucher I'd been given.

I would also add that IMO the feeding areas have NOT been designed with anyone particularly in mind, as they are all poorly padded benches with no arm or back support which is exceptionally uncomfortable whether you're breast or formula feeding. They almost always stink of dirty nappies, and the last time I used a loo in mothercare the door had warped because there was so much damp in there. This is based on visits to my three closest stores.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

Expensive. I ordered online during their sale and despite paying for goods it was only when I went to collect two parcels and only got one, they said some items were unavailable.

To be honest, I don't bother now.

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

Good to know LB! I've found them in M&S too but hopefully Tesco will be cheaper.

[raspberryblush23]

I think it has been going downhill for years and they seem to be closing most of the stores around us. As a first-time mum I did buy quite a lot of stuff from there with DS but the maternity clothes and bras were rubbish- I was measured at a D cup, I wish! I also went to the big outlet store in my city looking for a car seat, only to be told there were no car seats in stock across the whole of the Scottish stores . With DD i don't think I bought anything from Mothercare, instead buying from Asda and toys r us. I do think the clothes are fairly decent quality though but mostly out of stock and a bit overpriced.

[Nineloves1]

I thought there was a reasonable selection of clothes for the baby.

I have found staff at my local store to be friendly and helpful. They are happy to discuss a product with you, and don't mind if you go away to ponder it. They had no objections to me heading straight for the feeding room complete with comfortable Dutalier chairs, and didn't obviously look to see if you shoppedpre/post feeding.

They were also very kind, when I clearly looked like a stressed new mum, spontaneously reassuring me screaming DS's cries sounded much louder to me than to anyone else.

[RattieOfCatan]

The blooming marvellous jeans were the only ones I could find that fit comfortably during my pregnancy. My local one is somewhat ridiculous in terms of stereotypes, the girls stuff is 99% pink, it's really stupid, lots of nice "boys" clothes though, my newborn daughter lives in their 'boys' sleepsuits and the terry cotton ones. The "gender neutral" clothes are mostly white too, which is impractical. Bright colours would be nice!

The staff in there are lovely, always cheerful and chatty when we go in. There are loads of bargains to be had in there too, especially because they often cock up the prices on their machines. We managed to get a £120 baby monitor about a month ago for £40, it had been reduced to £80 in the sale but they'd messed up the pricing, it scanned at £40 and so they let us have it at that price. It's a common occurrence in there, I know people who purposely buy bigger items in the sales there because it happens so often!

[Nineloves1]

I think my allegiance is to the staff rather than the stock now that I think about it.

It presumably has changed over time. My mother tells how when she had babies Mothercare was considered luxury.

[RattieOfCatan]

We don't have the little bird range at my local shop which is a massive shame. We had it in the one before we relocated and I was looking forward to buying some, but my current local shop stocks a smaller range, and as I said, it's ridiculously stereotypical.

[sleepyhead]

I really like the Jools Oliver Little Bird range but our local Mothercare is stuck out in a retail park that I rarely visit.

I'd be more likely to shop there if it was located somewhere that I didn't have to make a special visit.

Having said that, in both my pregnancies it felt like a bit of a milestone making the trip to Mothercare to buy the first outfit for the baby after my 20 week scan so I think that shows that I do have affection for the brand.

[Lovelongweekends]

Expensive, poor stock availability, grumpy staff.
Retail park one marginally better than high street one.

[frikadela01]

I do think some things can be very expensive. However I have found staff largely helpful and it seems to be the only place remotely close to me where you can actually go and look at prams and pushchairs. (There is a mamas and papas but they seem to be mostly focused on their own brand in my local one.)

Without it I have no idea how we would have chosen a pushchair.

[Stargirl84]

Unfortunately I think it's outdated and overpriced. I was given a £40 mothercare voucher recently and wanted to spend it in store rather than online - I was after a baby sling/carrier and wanted to have a look before I bought one. Unfortunately the cheapest one in the shop was £100!! There were cheaper ones online though.

The Early Learning Centre toys is the best thing about Mothercare, as I think they are good quality.

[ValaMalDoran]

Incredibly expensive and choices were limited. I bought some things in the sale but the quality declined between kids and the stuff from 12 year old was much better quality than the stuff I bought for now 6 yo. Store itself was dark and dingy but has recently moved.

[lottiegarbanzo]

My very best maternity top came from there. Wrap-over v flattering style. Non-pregnant people wanted one!

We've bought car seats there. Helpful staff, all fine.

They have a nice little play area to keep pre-school DCs busy.

I think of them as being for basic, simple things, clothes-wise (bit like M&S used to be for grown-ups!). Plus I'd expect a good range of useful baby products. Def need to be cheaper than John Lewis, Jojo etc, helpful and knowledgeable, especially about babies, to fill that niche.

Cheaper things are available online, so it's the customer service and quality essentials that they need to get right.

[midcenturymodern]

I haven't been for years even though my youngest dc is still in their target market for clothes and toys. Ours is/was cluttered and badly laid out. The staff were generally unhelpful and the queues were always huge as people who were returning faulty buggies were queueing with people who wanted to quickly buy a 3 pack of babygros. I never got any maternity clothes there and I remember looking in my 1st pregnancy when I was 26 and being amazed how frumpy they were, considering the age demographic of people who are pregnant. The childrens clothes were always a bit meh, and more expensive than lots of other places.

[Mammabear31]

Not a fan. They have some lovely clothes but they are often overpriced and come up small. Very small range of boys clothing compared to girls; my local branch has probably 3:1.

Homeware, bedding, cots etc. all overpriced for the "quality".

Shall I tell you how I really feel?!

[HooArghhhEwe]

The last time I shopped there (4 years ago in the Reading branch) it was about 5 days before Christmas and all of their winter stuff was on the sale racks, entirely sold out in the size I was looking for (12-18m). The current season clothing racks were full of summer clothing.

The mind actually boggles.

I went somewhere else and gave them my money instead.

[GeekyWombat]

Overpriced shop that takes advantage of parents to be and well meaning older relations to sell things way over reasonable prices. When you look at the big names who have left the High Street over the last few years it boggles my mind they are still around, although of course they do that by preying on people who don't really know what they need, fleecing them of extra money.

When I was pregnant with DD I went to one of their new parent events and was shocked at the hard sell. And when I panic-strickenly said I'd not budgeted for half of the 'essentials' they were saying I needed I was given a leaflet for their interest free credit service, headlined 'The bank manager can wait, your baby can't'. Encouraging people to get into debt with emotional blackmail is a bloody disgrace and I've always given them a wide berth after that.

Did get given a Beatrix Potter babygro from there for DS when he was born though which was nice...

[frikadela01]

When you look at the big names who have left the High Street over the last few years it boggles my mind they are still around,

I think one thing that keeps them around is like I said earlier that there is just nowhere else you can go to actually see things like prams, cots, car seats, high chairs etc.

[ScarletSienna]

I've just remembered my worst experience...
We ordered a nursery furniture set that got held up at a depot or similar but couldn't be properly traced. Customer services couldn't tell us when it would be delivered but also couldn't refund us as they said they also didn't have it and it hadn't been scanned in anywhere. Utter nonsense - I told them that I was tweeting word for word our conversation to inform people of the situation and suddenly I could be refunded. It was really stressful; our baby was due home from hospital (premature) and despite two promised delivery dates, no cot. I would never order from them again because of this. We got it from Mamas and Papas instead and they were fantastic!

[BlueKarou]

I've had good experiences with Mothercare - bought some toys, clothing and car seats online in various separate transactions and all arrived in a timely manner. I usually shop there when things are on offer, so don't feel I've paid over the odds, but that's more due to timing.

I like the stores - I like knowing there's somewhere I can go to change my baby if needed (as opposed to having to change him on the toilet floor in a couple of other places). Yes, their prices are more expensive; I admit I buy most of my baby clothing from TU at Sainsburys because I'm not spending a lot of money on something he'll only wear for a couple of months. Might look more at Mothercare once he's older.