From baby steps to great strides

Mamas & Papas has embarked UPon an exciting journey, taking a once-humble independent nursery store and turning it into a truly global phenomenon. Deputy Chief Executive Richard Faulkner talks about the company’s new openings across the UK and the Middle East, brand values and the challenge he faces…
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F rom the modest beginnings of a tiny independent nursery store in Huddersfield, Mamas & Papas has grown into a highly respected brand while preserving its roots and commitment to the West Yorkshire town in which it was first born. The company has become the leading brand for pushchairs, baby toys, highchairs, clothes and furniture within the nursery industry, having been built upon a solid foundation of family values, quality, integrity and confidence.

Mamas & Papas is now the number one nursery brand in the UK, with award-winning products that many parents in the UK value and trust. The company currently operates 32 stores in the UK, with a new store planned for Nottingham in autumn 2008 and further plans to extend the retail estate throughout 2009.

Internationally, it has seven stores open in the Middle East, with an eighth opening in Bahrain in April. A further 20 store openings are planned in the Middle East over the next 24 months. The most recent stores to open in the UK are Preston, Liverpool, Stockton and Orpington with Doha and Dubai in the Middle East.

Sales and profits at Mamas & Papas continued to grow year-on-year for its UK stores over the festive period and, with its first Middle East store in Abu Dhabi only a year old in January 2008, sales against plan from then onwards have shown healthy increases on a like-for-like basis.

Of course, the business community is currently facing the prospect of a number of economic challenges; RLI asked Deputy Chief Executive Richard Faulkner how he felt the retail sector is performing at the moment in the face of this?
“I can only speak for our own retail ambitions for 2008/2009,” he says, “and despite the prospect of a few economic challenges, I would describe our retail plans for the next 24 months as ambitious, but achievable.

“If consumer confidence does drop,
it is my experience that spending for babies and young children is usually cushioned from the realities of the rest of the economy.”

With the success of its existing retail concepts, the brand has plans to open several more stores in the UK during 2008-09 and, with a new high street/boutique concept that it is developing, Faulkner envisages trial stores launching this year, with a roll-out plan to follow.

For the full article please see the RLI April 08 issue