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25 years is certainly a milestone as an independent baby goods retailer! The whole industry has changed and evolved so much across the years with the loss of national retailers and the movement to online, meaning expecting parents were desperate to see and experience baby goods in the flesh.
We started with the idea of owning a small shop in Rotherham with a mission to show amazing nursery items and save customers money, hence the name Affordable Baby. This was certainly part of our growth over the years, and still prevails today. Silver Cross was a key brand we focussed on very early on due to its historic name and quality.
At Affordable Baby we always focus on our product knowledge along with our customer service and experience, plus we adapted our range of brands to offer something customers could not see elsewhere.
We later opened a home store near our travel store to show more home products and nursery furniture ranges. Just last year we opened our latest and larger (over two floors) baby store in Sheffield, near the Meadowhall Shopping Centre.
Over the years we have seen many changes and improvements to all aspects in the world of baby goods – more functionality, improved safety and certainly, as lifestyles change, different tastes in colours and fabrics. The latest trend is the use of beige or stone colours with softer eco-friendly fabrics, plus greens, which are coming back in popularity for a more outdoorsy look and feel.
Sounds corny but true – the people! Being part of a customer’s journey into baby goods (especially for the first time) is brilliant as you can advise them and feel a part of these important decisions. We also love the network of independent retailers, as we get to share views and information to help the independent sector continuously grow stronger. They are just like us – down to earth businesspeople, trying to offer the best in their area.
We held an event for our key suppliers with giveaways and experts on hand for our customers. It was a very busy day but well worth it! Plus, we treated our staff to a celebration meal – some of whom have been with us for nearly all our journey – to raise a glass or two and get ready for the next 25 years!
We’re now serving three generations of customers – new grandparents, new parents, newborns. It’s brilliant when we hear a grandparent say they bought the mum-to-be’s pram from us and a great sign of trust which makes us proud. Even some of our staff, including our daughter-in-law, have been ‘brought up’ with our products.
With that in mind, we’re also starting to hand control over to our ‘next generation’ Danny and Emma, so we can get to a point of semi-retirement. They have lots of exciting ideas and plans to grow and drive our success for new and returning customers alike. Watch this space!
