Buying a stroller in London

[jfolker]

We're going to London at the end of this month, and thought that we'd look into buying one of the fancier European strollers there (brands like Bugaboo, Musty, Teutonia, etc.). Anyone have any advice? Any suggestions on which baby stores to look into?

Also, does anyone know if a US infant seat can be hooked into any of these strollers?

thanks,
Jim

[uccomama]

My sister's favorite store is Baby Days in Reigate, Surrey, about 40 minutes from London. To get there via public transport take the train from Victoria Station (central London) to Redhill then take a cab to Reigate High Street. I belive Baby Days carries the Musty. Here's a link to their web page: http://www.babydays-e.com/index.html

This is also a good resource with the various stroller brands and where to buy them: http://www.preciouslittleone.com/uk/shopping/pushchairstockists.asp

I would look at Silver Cross, Bebe Comfort as well.

Edited to add: you might want to check out Quinny's too.

Enjoy your trip and happy stroller shopping!

Deborah

[JanaM]

Hi Jim,
You could try going to all the department stores and checking out their baby sections. I know John Lewis sells prams, pushchairs and buggies. They have a store on Oxford Street. But, to be perfectly honest, it might be cheaper to find what you want while you are over there and then come back and buy what you want in the States. I've noticed over the years the prices in England are coming down but things are still a lot more expensive there for the same thing here. An example would be, back in Feb '00 I bought a Graco Travel System on clearance for just over $200 USD. Yes, I said clearance, the original price at that time was ~$350 USD! (the squeak was free, ACK!) I didn't pay much more than the original price for my Bertini Sport here in the States. If you are going to be in London for awhile, you could test drive different strollers at the department stores then pick up the phone and call www.Kiddicare.com. They would probably have the best price in the UK and might deliver to your hotel (free 7day delivery). Their website only has a handfull of their available stock. But, you could email them ahead and find out what they do have.

HTH,
Jana :)

P.S. I'm no help on the carseat except I would swear their Graco carseat is EXACTLY the same, only without the base. I hated it when we were in England because it was a nightmare to strap into the car.

P.P.S. Also, contact your airline ahead of time to see what they will allow on the plane. Some airlines are starting to consider the larger strollers 'oversized' and will charge you freight. I've also had one stroller totally trashed (the Graco, thanks be to God) and two pliko's scraped up pretty badly by baggage handlers. You might also want to consider additional baggage insurance if you do get something. We only travel now with the Plikos.

[MomInClogs]

I also bought my Bertini in the UK since it was difficult to find here in the Netherlands where I'm living at the moment. I looked at it at John Lewis in London and purchased it from pramsonline.com.

Some products are priced competitively with the USA, but often more expensive. I think that the brand names have been altered for the UK a bit: Cosatto line is Inglesina and Mamas and Papas is Peg Perego.

I don't think that the Bugaboo is in the UK just yet--at least not when I was there last month. It'll probably be much more expensive there than on the European Continent.

[jfolker]

Hi Deborah, Jana and "MomInClogs"--

Thanks for the advice. We'll check out the stores and websites that you mentioned. It sounds as though pricewise it probably won't end up saving us anything, but at least we'll be able to actually see the strollers instead of just ordering one from an internet picture.

thanks again,
Jim

[hipmaman]

Hi Jim,

I am currently in London right now, so if you can wait until next week when I get back to Canada, I will post more where I have been to see strollers.

Been to Mothercare and John Lewis yesterday and will try to check out some others before the week ends.

[jfolker]

Hi Tam--

We won't be leaving until Sept. 25th, so we'll still be here in the US when you get back to Canada.

Hope that you're enjoying your trip. How'd your child make out on the flight (or are you still expecting, like my wife and I)?

--Jim

[hipmaman]

Hi Jim,

Unfortunately this trip is a business trip, so I don't have my children with me and haven't really have time to baby-gear shop yet!

Tell me what kind of strollers are you looking to buy? I take it this is your first child and first stroller (unlike myself, a 3 yr old and 1 yr old with 7 strollers and still scoping for more ;))

You can always email me at hipmaman@hotmail.com also.

[jfolker]

Hi Tam--

Seven strollers -- wow.

You're right, this will be our first child (and first stroller). My wife's due in December.

Here's what we're hoping to find, strollerwise. We plan on buying a jogging stroller later, after the baby's old enough. (So we'll worry about that one when the time comes, when we worry about the super light umbrella-type stroller that everyone seems to get for the toddlers).

But for when the baby's small, we're hoping to find something with big enough wheels to handle the somewhat rough, uneven sidewalks in our neighborhood --we live in Chicago in a former warehouse district that's now mostly loft condos. We're also hoping that we can affix the infant seat to it. Finally, we'd like it to be light enough to toss in the trunk of the car for trips to the grandparents and the malls, both in the suburbs. We figure that about 25 pounds and under seems managable, but we're not quite sure.

We've found some strollers with good urban wheels, like the Teutonia Y2K or PiXXel, but they're usually too heavy (32+ pounds). We looked at the Maclaren Global and one other similar Maclaren, as well as the Peg-Perego Sherpa-something, or something-Sherpa, which all seemed pretty nice, except for the relatively small wheels that might not handle our sidewalks too well.

So, any advice that you'd have to offer would be appreciated.

thanks,
Jim

[MomInClogs]

Jim,

You might run into compatibility problems when trying to get a US carseat to fit into a European stroller. Since I live in Europe , but I had my baby at home in the US, I had a US carseat that fit into a stroller able to take the carseat--the Ultra Savvy. Thought that buying a European carseat and stroller and dragging it to the US before having the baby was impractical (and tempting fate).

I now realize that the infant seats here can be used much longer than most of the ones in the US--up to 28 pounds or so. So maybe if there's a next time for us...

If Bebeconfort is able to take US approved carseats, that might work for you. Maybe the distribute in the US...I don't know. I've seen lots of those around here (other than the Bugaboo) that can handle the rough urban terrain with ease. I think that it's called the Bebe Confort Trophy Air 6, and there's another line called Urban Life that is similar. There used to be mostly Quinny strollers around too, but late last year, they temporarily stopped taking orders here during an ownership change (I understand that Maxi Cosi has taken it over), so Bugaboos filled the void.

Look at twoleftfeet.co.uk as that site has a great list of almost all the prams, pushchairs, buggies available in the UK. It's a good place to browse.

Anyway, good luck...

Kat (MomInClogs)

[uccomama]

I agree do take a look at Bebe Comfort strollers, I think they are wonderful, especially the Trophy Air 6 with the Opera seat! As far as I know, however, they only take the Bebe Comfort Elios car seat while a highly recommended seat, it is not approved in the US, so it technically not legal. Oh, btw, Bebe Comfort strollers aren't available in the US.

The other stroller I really like is the Maxi-taxi Citi, but again, that only takes the Maxi-Cosi infant seat which is not approved in the US either.

Deborah

[jfolker]

Hi Deborah and Kat--

Thanks so much for the additional advice. My wife and I were talking strollers again last night (as usual, lately), and we decided that the US infant seat compatability issue may not be a big deal for us. We figured that the few months that the baby will be in the infant seat fall during the worst part of winter here in Chicago, so we won't be taking the baby outside for those long walks then. We figured that we'd just get get one of those cheap infant seat frames for the quick trips to the mall, etc.

So, we'll definately check out the Babeconfort, the Maxi-taxis and the Quinny, which do appear to be available now --twoleftfeet.co.uk had a Quinny Freestyle 3 that looked pretty nice.

thanks again,
Jim

[hipmaman]

Here are a few store in the London area to check out...

1) Mothercare, 461 Oxford street, Tel: 020-7629-6621 http://www.mothercare.co.uk. It carries Silver Cross, MB Urban single with carrying cot, Urban Detour joggers (with front swivel wheel and similar to the Baby Trend?), Maclaren, Cosatto (which is Inglesina in the UK), Graco, and its own brand Mothercare.

2) John Lewis, Oxford street, 020-7629-7711. http://www.johnlewis.com. The website doesn't show what it carry though. It has strollers from Quinny, Mutsy, Mamas and Papas (Peg Perego in the UK), Maclaren, Chicco, Cosatto, MB, Bebe Confort,etc. The selection is actually quite good and prices are not bad. The store offers VAT-free with purchase over 75 GBP. The M&P Globe Trekker is quite nice looking.

3) Daisy & Tom, 181 Kings Road, in the Chelsea area, 020-7349-5800. Beautiful store carrying toys, dolls, nursery goods, books, etc. It has a carousel in the middle of the store to occupy the kids while parents shop. The selection offers Koelstra (I think it's German) 4 and 3 wheelers, Maxi-Cosi Speedi and Citi, Gesslein (again it's German), Teutonia, SilverCross, Maclaren and Emmaljunga. But they might not have everything in the store. Some has to be ordered in when you place an order. Price can be on the higher side of things.

4) Babies 'R Us. There are several locations, but the one at 760 Old Kent Road in Elephant and Castle area has more of a pram selection. 020-7732-7322. It's a good place to check out too. M&P, Britax, Chicco, Graco, Quinny, Maxi-Cosi, Silver Cross, Maclaren, Bruin (Ithink it's a knock-off of the Maclaren), Cosatto, etc.

5) There is also Blooming Marvellous, http://www.bloomingmarvellous.co.uk. Store in London is on 725 Fulham Road, 0870-751-8977. I didn't go to this store.

6) There is http://www.lilliput.co.uk. I didn't go here either.

Hope that helps. Here is another store that worth checking for prices http://www.kiddicare.co.uk. If you like the Quinny Freestyle 3 (year 2001 without the swivel front wheel this place sells it for 149 GBP).

If you have questions, ask. I am sure I forget to mention things, but it's late and I have no idea what I have written, lol (jet lag).

[jfolker]

Tam--

Thank you so much for all the great information. We really appreciate it. That list that you made will be a big help on our trip.

I checked out the M & P Globe Trekker on their website, and you're right, it is quite nice looking. We've addded that one to our evergrowing list of strollers to check out in person.

thanks again for all the help,
JIm

[jfolker]

We're back from our trip (which was great!), and I thought that I'd report in about our stroller shopping, in case anyone was curious.

We looked at lots of strollers at several places (John Lewis, Mothercare, Daisey & Tom, and Blooming Marvellous), and ended up bringing two strollers back with us -- a Bertini Sport and a Maclaren Volo. We had no problems checking them at the airport (they were all boxed up), and didn't have to pay any extra freight either. The only transport problems we had with them was getting them from the store to our hotel. Our taxi couldn't get us across town because of a huge anti-war protest, so we ended up on the tube (with one transfer),and then a long walk past hundreds of protesters. We actually rolled the boxed Bertini on the Maclaren.

We decided on the Bertini Sport mostly because of its adaptability, the rockable spring-suspension, the four-wheel steering, and the extra large air tires. We also got a great price on it (around $275, after being refunded the VAT) because Blooming Marverllous was closing them out (we saved around $150 off the regular price). We tested it out in our rather small trunk the other night, and are happy that it actually fits, if we take the seat off and stack it just right.

We loved the cool look of the Mutsy, which also steered very well, but it was too long to fit in our trunk. It was also at least $150 more than the Bertini.

We also like the looks and some other aspects of the Quinny Freestyle 4, but the spring loaded steering didn't seem to work too well for us.

We also almost ended up with a BebeCar Urban Tracker, but it was more expensive than the Bertini, and lacked the rockable spring- suspension (but it was a lot lighter weight).

We werent planning on buying the Volo yet, but the prices in London were much better than in the US (around $65, after VAT refund, compared with $100, plus tax, in the US).

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Jim