Going to London! Where to shop?

[dylansnan]

I will be traveling to London in May and I am hoping to check out some strollers while I'm there. For those who have been, where should I go? Any shops have websites, I can check out before hand?
TIA

~Cindy

[Mum-of-3-Lil-Herberts]

Defintaly Check Out motherCare and maybe Argos its a kinda like sears only you go in the shop look through a book then take it to the desk and they bring you the item, atleast the one in portsmouth where I am from was like this. Also Check Out Boots I think they have a website? Index is also another catalogue shop that sells strollers, Theres also Woolworths and possible Asda is a grocery store/department store Like Loblaws here. There are soo many small baby stores its hard to miss them.. :-)

Victoria Mummy of Lila 05/99
Riley 09/2002
Tommy 10/2003

[american_mama]

When I visisted there last May, someone suggested John Lewis, a large department store. Perego is called Mamas and Papas there, and they have their own stores with stroller color selections not available in the US. See www.mamasandpapas.co.uk. I think the most interesting selection will be at baby specialty stores, but I don't know the names of any.

You can read more about strollers in London and all of Europe if you look at my post on this called "One Year of European Stroller Browsing" or something like that. Do a search and you'll find it.

Also, if you do a search for Jane Powertrack and England, hopefully you'll find a guy named Dave? mentioned from a store in England. For a time, he was willing to ship Jane strollers to the US. If he's in London, I'm sure his store would be worth contacting.

[dylansnan]

Thanks Victoria & Karen!
Sorry for the delay in my response, I really appreciate the suggestions. Now hopefully I can try to figure out what stores are close to where I'll be staying. I am looking at possibly getting another fabric set for my bebeconfort- and I am not sure a store would carry these regularly, so I want to order it now if I have to.

Thanks Again!

[hipmaman]

Also there are Babies Are Us and a boutique Daisy & Tom on Kings Road in London (I think in Chelsea)

[dylansnan]

Are second hand/resale stores common in the UK? Just curious. I know, typically prices are higher in the UK, so maybe if I could find something used....
Thanks for any info.

[american_mama]

Try www.ebay.co.uk and see if you could have the stroller shipped to your hotel. Maybe you could even win the auction a little before your trip and ask the seller to hold the item to ensure it arrives while you are still at your hotel.

I think ebay.co.uk is awesome. Just like American ebay, sellers are usually responsive and have photos, but stroller selections are much broader. Paying internationally through Paypal is a cinch. (Pay in dollars, choose that you want Paypal to convert it to pounds. I think Paypal charges a minor fee for this, which I think is buried in the exchange rate, but I found it to be negligible on the $25 footmuff I bought over ebay.co.uk.

There probably are baby consignment stores like Once Upon A Child, but I don't know the names of any. There is a national family organization called the National Chilbirth Trust and local chapters host consignment sales; maybe search the internet to see if NCT has any stores. It tells me that the resale process is completely familiar to Brits.