where to shop for baby stuff (real shops, not net!)

gemmaj

Hello! I'm pregnant and I live in Guernsey. The shopping here is not particularly great so I am looking at my alternatives and was after some more info..

I would like to come over to England to do some baby shopping (I need everything and would prefer cheap). I can take my car to Poole, Portsmouth or Weymouth - I can also fly to most airports but then its going to be tricky getting stuff back!

I would LOVE any information on where I should go - both where in England and what shops.

I have identified Toys R Us, Ikea, Primark and tesco/asda as good places to go (I think?!). Oh, and Mothercare. Big shops and cheap shops is what I'm after! Also I have heard rumours that Weymouth probably wouldn't be great for shopping?

Oh, my other option is to go to France if that would be better - but that seems even more confusing!

Thanks!

Justie

you've covered the major retailers I think - it's worth looking on ebay and seeing if they'll deliver to the CIs - I presume that's why you don't want internet retailers?

It's well worth looking online first and getting a shopping list together and then phoning stores if you want particular items to make sure they're in stock. Ikea is far cheaper than the other places but only has a limited range.

It's quite hard to advise on what to buy as it's tempting to buy tonnes of stuff that you may not need and until you have the baby it's hard to know what will suit your child. I would stick to the major items of cot/bedding etc car seat & pushchair and try not to get too carried away on buying nappies in bulk and loads of clothes...

Dormouse

Hiya, and congratulations!

Before I forget, there's a very friendly Pregnancy Club at the top of the Family board, so feel free to pop in and have a chat about anything baby and pregnancy related

Regarding cheap baby stuff, I'd concentrate on Ikea or Argos for furniture (cots and stuff), and Tesco/Asda/Primark for clothes. I find George and Tesco baby clothes really good, and they're so much cheaper than other places! TBH I find Mothercare too expensive and not that great. BabiesRus at ToysRUs do have good deals sometimes - but I would do some internet research first, to make sure I'm getting the best deal.

Do you have a Tesco clubcard? If you do, definitely sign up to their Baby club as you'll get money-off and extra points vouchers in the post. Also, if buying baby clothes from Tesco, do check out threads on the Vouchers board as there are lots of ways of getting a huge discount on clothes with various vouchers.

Me personally (I'm expecting my second, so don't need that much stuff), I'm getting some baby stuff from Boots, but that's just because I have lots of Boots points and gift vouchers from survey sites etc - they're not brilliant value othrewise.

I'm sure someone will come up with other ideas - but hope this helps a bit.

looneyleo

Have you considered second hand? Does Guernsey have a local advertising paper where you can buy goods from other mums? You can get some really good bargains from these sorts of papers and in general most mums take very good care of their baby stuff (for obvious hygiene reasons) and I have never been disappointed when I have bought from them.

Are there any car boot sales you could pop to before your planned shopping trip just to get an idea of what might be available second hand? Just an idea and you could save yourself £100's literally on retail shop prices.

Best of luck with baby...

dazza.mk

Probably not appropriate given your location, but you've got the store for Kiddicare.com in Peterborough & twoleftfeet.co.uk in Bedford