Askamum love my blog, ooo-errr how exciting!
I’ve moved my blog to WordPress! I’ve posted in my archive and am starting afresh over here, hope you like the new style which I will hopefully make even better in the coming weeks and months! I’ll be posting as normal in my usual style on Friday but I wanted to begin my WordPress journey with another new beginning and write this special post to start with. Last night I was very kindly invited to the launch of the new look Mothercare and Early Learning Store in Edmonton, North London. I was quite excited to go out in the evening, on my own, wearing a dress which didn’t have easy access for breast feeding and knowing there might be a glass of wine or two I expressed loads of milk for Jonny to play Mummy with while I was out! Just before I left, Florence was playing with her toys in such a sweet way and it seemed apt that she was taking her HappyLand characters, including the queen on a make believe trip to the farm via the bus while I was off to meet the people who are behind the brilliant collection of toys she loves so much!
Florence just before I left for the Mothercare and Early Learning Centre launch with her favourite toys of the moment!
Now it just so happens that I live fairly close to the Edmonton Store, which is on an industrial estate, so I know it well but I haven’t been in a while. I was totally gobsmacked when I saw what they’d done to the place! It’s HUGE! I mean, of course it can’t really be any bigger than it was before but it’s had a makeover which means the whole space is so much more inviting and because the ceiling is now white it just seems bigger somehow. From the centre of the room you can literally see everything in the store which is brilliant because you don’t have to waste any time trying to find what you’re looking for. Saying that, the new store is actually the sort of place you wouldn’t mind wasting any time in! Edmonton Mothercare and Early Learning Centre is no longer a place to trek to when you need something but actually, a bit of a day out really! I can hear you laughing but seriously, and not just for the baby gadget lovers like me I promise, this isn’t even just about shopping anymore!
The centre of the room from up stairs. As you can see, it’s light, bright, well spaced out and gives a great view of where everything is.
The vista downstairs looking up to the left and you can still see everything even though it’s on another floor! (By the way, that windmill is a play house)!
Obviously you can buy all your baby gear, clothes and maternity essentials (of which all have some fab new ranges which I’ve spoken of before and will do so again soon) and the toys are still upstairs in the Early Learning Centre ready for purchase but did you know that you can also pop in to have a coffee in Costa, let the children play in the play areas, turn up for special visits from favourite characters such as Peppa Pig and the Grufallo (bet that got your attention) and visit their new mumspace where there will be classes like Lazy Daisy baby massage, Jo Jingles music and Diddi Dance sessions as well as expectant parent groups taking place and other exciting weekly activities? No? Well you do now and the play areas are awesome! A Little Tikes fenced off section with loads of toys and then all around the Early learning Centre are toys and play houses! Fantastic!
The play areas.
My favourite dress in the new affordable range, this is JUST £9!
I had a nosy round the store and found things I know Florence would be squealing with delight at, the giant child sized HappyLand characters and rocket style space ship as the lift for starters, meaning this is the sort of shopping she would actually enjoy and because of that will almost certainly be the sort of shopping Jonny will tolerate and let me enjoy! Already I am planning my next trip!
A giant HappyLand space man stands guard by the rocket style space ship Lift!
Mothercare has had a bad rap in the past for various things and I think it’s fair to say they have got it wrong on occasions but after listening to their brand new CEO Simon Calver, who has a young family himself with number two imminent and having seen this new store with my own eyes I am confident that what the company wants is to be better, to be the best in fact and most importantly to be what us Mums really want! They’ve listened to what we’ve said in the past and boy have they acted on it! Simon made a speech last night and what drew my attention most was the fact that he said the stores are now all about bras and cars. He said they recognised that when they meet us for the first time those are the areas we are interested in; we need to be fitted for bras and we need a car seat so every member of staff is now going to be trained to give advice in both areas and there will always be 6 people on the floor at any given time ready and waiting to help with these tricky areas which need the most advice. This isn’t just in Edmonton either but throughout ALL stores! Fabulous news and something other stores could take a tip from I think! I recently waited 2 hours for someone to become available in a major high street department store just to have my bra size measured for a nursing bra which is infuriating and now I know what Mothercare are offering I see no need to even try anywhere else really!
He also spoke about the feeding and changing areas which have been decorated beautifully. I’ve noticed in the past that some Mothercare stores, such as the one in Norwich, have exceptional feeding areas and then others not so much but I was reassured last night that this will not be the case anymore and that everywhere will be perfect! They still have a few tweaks to make, it wasn’t quite there yet but they were falling over themselves to hear what I thought they should do to make it so and I told them that the Norwich store is all they need to look at, comfy chairs, a water machine and a box of breast pads! I have no doubt that they will take it on board and make some little changes to the areas very soon. Saying that, it’s already quite a nice spot for feeding and the wall paper in the corridor alone is worth going to have look at, I’d even have it in my house! It’s retro covers from Mothercare’s magazine from the 60s onwards!
The retro magazine cover wall!
All in all I am super impressed with the store, I’m impressed with the new ranges (the low cost clothes are adorable), I’m impressed with the concessions in store such as Pixifoto and Clarks, I’m impressed with what’s on offer in the mumspace (Full listing for August below) and I’m impressed with their attitude! Well done Mothercare and keep up the good work rolling this kind of thing out to all your other stores!
Mumspace, within the store is, as I said a place where classes and events for all the family will be taking place. For the month of August these will all be FREE (with the exception of Palmers Green Puppet Theatre at £3 per child) on a first come first served basis and in the future they hope to hold more FREE events for families which is excellent in light of the fact this government seems hell bent on closing SureStart resources! Take a look what’s on this month in Edmonton:
MUMSPACE – What’s on in August?
What is the store offering FREE for the month of August? Well quite a lot really! Take a look below for the time table:
Saturday 4th Baby Sensory development classes – 10am to 3pm
Sunday 5th MamaBabyBliss – baby massage, body yoga demos and Disco Duck pre-school dance taster sessions – 11am to 4pm
Tuesday 7th Diddi Dance – 10am to 10.45am
Wednesday 8th Tiny Talk baby signing – 10.30am to 11am
Saturday 11th Jo Jingles with Big Jo! – sessions all day
Sunday 12th Baby and Me Club expectant parent event 10am to 12 noon
Monday 13th Tiny Talk baby signing – 10.30am to 11am
Tuesday 14th Lazy Daisy baby massage and baby yoga – 11am to 12.30pm
Wednesday 15th Jo Jingles, music, singing and movement – 10am to 12 noon
Friday 17th Jo Jingles, music, singing and movement – 10am to 12 noon
Tuesday 21st Lazy Daisy birthing class – 11am to 12.30pm
Friday 24th Jo Jingles, music, singing and movement – 10am to 12 noon
Tuesday 28th Lazy Daisy baby massage and baby yoga – 11am to 12.30pm
Saturday 25th – Monday 27th Palmers Green Puppet Theatre Performances 1pm & 5pm
And in the Early Learning Centre Play Area the activities are as follows:
Saturday 4th Entertainment and face painters, Gruffalo in Store – 10am to 4pm
Sunday 5th Entertainment and face painters, Gruffalo and Peppa Pig in Store – 10am to 4pm
Saturday 11th Teddy Bears Picnic
Sunday 12th Teddy Bears Picnic
Saturday 18th Pirates and Fairies – 10am to 4pm
Sunday 19th Pop-up-Tales, stories created and brought to life using puppets, songs, parachutes, bubbles, movement and fun – 11am to 3pm
Tuesday 21st Diddi Dancing – 2pm – 2.45pm
Saturday 25th – Monday 27th Palmers Green Puppet Theatre, family friendly puppet theatre story telling 12 noon to 4pm
(All opinions and words, apart from those in green, are my own. I have not been paid for this article although I did receive some products to keep after I had reviewed them.)
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interesting article… for my quick thoughts, buying bras has always been one great big pain. a friend recommended brayola and it’s become my new best friend.