INFANTS CHAIN SHUTS UP SHOP
MOTHERCARE stores around the UK have been closing their doors for good every day this week. In Cardiff’s Culverhouse Cross store – as for most across the UK – the last day of trading was yesterday.
When we visited, the store was almost completely empty, with a small bundle of reduced stock in front of the tills left.
All the fixtures and fittings had been pushed to one side and the store was left looking like an empty shell.
Mothercare employees found out the devastating news that all the stores would close in November.
A sale started immediately and huge queues were seen outside the stores.
Yesterday, the stores were selling items for as low as 50p, with some items receiving an extra 70% off at the till.
The Culverhouse Cross store had some impressive items, like an Oyster carry-cot, which retails for £169, at £85.
If you have a tiny baby, there were plenty of bargains left to be had at the store, with lots of baby wear designed for premature babies left.
Included among the remaining items were Christmas-themed clothing, a set of two Christmas pyjamas for babies priced at £8.
The clothing was marked as 50% off the lowest marked price, making some items as cheap as £1.50.
But some customers were leaving the shop empty handed, with any hope of getting a last-chance bargain gone.
“There isn’t really anything left, there’s the bare bones. It is an odd combination of things, I wonder how it got to that,” said 42-year-old mum Catrin Verrall.
Catrin and her partner Alun Davies, 39, who live in Cardiff were passing the store and thought they would take one last look.
“We haven’t bought anything today but we did get a high chair for our eightmonth-old when the sale first started.
“To be honest, we didn’t really come here before anyway. We bought most of the stuff for our baby online,” Catrin said.
Alun added that one issue with the store is the location, he said it is a bit out of the way and was never really worth travelling to.
“You can get a lot of the stuff you find here in supermarkets, it is easier when it is all under one roof, especially when you have a baby,” he said.
Some of the “bare bones” items left at the store that Catrin described were decorative borders, at 50p; child safety socket covers, for European sockets at £1; a selection of Chicco natural-feeling teets, RRP £5.50 for £2.75, among other bottle teets; and a selection of soft toys.
The customer would receive an extra 70% off these prices at the till.
The company went into administration last November following an announcement it had suffered a £36.3m loss in 2018 under a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), which sparked its demise.
The move, which does not include Mothercare’s overseas business, meant a total of 79 stores closing with the loss of 2,800 jobs.
All Mothercare stores across the UK will close down by today.
The company announced last month, however, that the Mothercare brand will make a return to the high street after striking a deal with Boots for them to sell Mothercare-branded pushchairs, car seats, clothing, home and travel products at its stores across the UK.