Apr 27, 2009 07:19 PM
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Expecting your first child comes with a lot of things to purchase and plan, and I being a European gal my standard of safety and what comes as a necessity can seem naturally quite high in India.
For month hubby and I went touring different shops around the city, both the average privately owned baby store, as well as lifestyle and mothercare. The first outlet we visited was the one in Bannergatta road whcih is inside shopper stop to start looking for one of our top lister in matter of necessities: infant car seat, while there I checked the maternity wear as well. Our impression was already very professional there as we could ask all the questions we had about car seats without feeling pushed to make a purchase. As far as maternity wear goes, I bought a few lingerie items and a maternity top there and the ladies were EXTREMELY helpful in giving me a hand at evaluating my size, a warning though, the maternity clothes there are among the slightly overpriced items you will find in the store.
A few weeks later we returned to mothercare, but the flag store they have in Indiaranagar, the choice there is quite obviously wider being a 2 storey shop. What we looked for was still car seats, but as part of a travel system(with matching stroller) and cots(another of our necessity item), the first time we went there we just did a quick survey and bought nothing, but last week we returned having finally made our choice as far as where to buy those two esentials which needed to be of good quality and meet international safety standards. We gladly accepted the assistance of a sales person to guide us through the whole cots display as newparents we aren't completely in the loop. What struck me immediately was how well informed the guy was and how he patiently detailed each cots and objectively listed their pro and con not trying at all cost to push a costlier model on us, he also patiently answered our many many many questions about which models would convert into toddler beds, and what wood it was and what was the difference between cot a and cot b and what mattresses choices we had. In the end we selected a mid-range model which would convert into a toddler bed and therfore be in use until the age of 5 years old and whcih could easily be converted back into a crib should we have a second child, 12k well spent if you ask me.
We then moved to the travel system, stroller and car seat section, and explained our need for a travel system, there he told us they had only two models on display at the moment, but that the catalogue carried a few more if we could afford a longer delivery timeframe, taking time to show us what other options we had, out of the two displayed there was a Graco one, and the mothercare brand one, and he quickly told us the mothercare brand one was discontinued and that all there was left was the very display model we were looking at and that one of the element of the package was missing and therfore we would be eligible for a discount should we decide on that one. We again asked questions about weight, sizes, safety, ease of operation, and he patiently showed us both models in detail proceeding to show us how each model folded, telling us the weight of each system, letting us evaluate both before making our choice. In the end we decided to go for the Graco model, but again at no point was this model pushed on us over another one. Then our sales assistant offered tips on what other purchases we might need though we clearly told him we would buy these next month, he still made sure to give us a tour of the baby care floor and answered our questions about various products. Then we went to the billing floor and asked him about the delivery window, he told us that the items will be delivered and assembled within 4 days and that we would get a call to inform us when the items would come and arrange for a delivery.
I was surprised by this short delivery timeframe, most big store selling furnitures in Bangalore can't manage to get a cheapo laminate shoerack to your home in less than 2 weeks, so when he said 4 days I didn't really believe it, but we had time anyway so this wasn't too much of an issue.
We left the store with a copy of the stores catalogue so we could browse the stock and budget our further expenses at leisure leaving with a very positive impression.
A positive impression which got reinforced the next day, not even 24 hours after our purchase when the store called and informed us that the cot and travel system were ready for delivery and could be delivered and assembled on the day itself! I was in shock let me tell you as I was not expecting them to be such in advance on the delivery date they previously estimated, we told them they could come right away as both Hubby and I were home and they told us they would be there within the hour, and again, that's one promise they held as the delivery man came right on time. Both items got assembled swiftly and professionaly by a qualified technician, which woed us some more(not that we needed it).
Now I hear the skepticals out there, who will argue that mothercare is a pricey store, well first let me tell you that not all items are belonging to the ridiculously overpriced section, in fact the majority will fall in the extremly reasonable price range considering the quality you get, others are even cheaper than the tacky looking and low grade plastic, garish synthetic fabric, and suspicious safety items you will find around town. Some of their toys are even cheaper than Fisher Price toys, and quite a few of their bed linens and towels are also falling in the same cheaper than the local items as well, despite being imported, and are also made of quite superior cottons and materials.
With the catalogue by my side I spent the past few days evaluating my needs in matter of baby clothing, baby care, toys and the like, and did a survey looking at online stores and other cheaper stores again, and I was surprised see that quite a lot of my second necessity items would come down way cheaper at mothercare as well.
So if you are a shopper concerned about value for money, and good standard of quality AND child safety(European norms are very strict) this is the one store you would not want to miss.
