May 15, 2007

Babies R Us R So Stokked!

stokke_bru_poster.jpg

Look who I saw in the window of the Union Square flagship of Babies R Us this morning? It's Norway's favorite stroller for keeping your kid up above the dirty streets and exhaust pipes and closer to you: the Stokke Xplory.

And sure enough, inside was a BRU employee setting up a Stokke display, front and center. It looks like they're only going to be carrying the red and blue colors--and red apparently hadn't come in yet. Are these showing up in a BRU near you? Or just near me--and near Buy Buy Baby?

stokke_babiesrus.jpg

Never mind a high-end stroller that breaks as many molds as the Xplory does; a high-end anything is definitely uncharted territory for BRU; it'll be intersesting to see if they can lure more upscale shoppers in--or if they can convince their existing customers to shell out.

Or maybe having an $800 rig in the store will help BRU upsell $120 stroller folks by making the $300 strollers suddenly look cheap. While I was there sneaking photos, I watched a black couple in their early 20's--she wasn't showing at all yet--getting the lay of the stroller land. The first words out of the baby daddy's mouth: "HOW MUCH did that say it cost??" Baby mama, who didn't see the price: "But look, it's a high chair, too; it's everything!"

5 Comments

I was actually quite surprised to see Maclarens and Peg Peregos sold at the Union Square BRU store. They definitely went upscale and people seem to buy it.

I will not be surprised if BRU is going to sell the Quinnys also. I talked to the owner of Pomme (a small upscale children's boutique in Dumbo) and she told me that Quinny is not interested in having smaller boutiques have first dips on the first shipments. They are going straight to places like Buy Buy Baby and probably Baby'R'Us. Instead of branding the Buzz and Zapp as something upscale they just want to get it to the masses.

Not the highest of the high-end, but considered a bit "high end" around these parts, I've seen the Maclarens and Peg Peregos at BRU around here since, well, since around the time we bought our Maclaren, what, about a year-and-a-half ago.

I was surprised by those. Carrying the Stokke is even more surprising. I'll have to check our local BRU.

Yeah, we bought our son's Maclaren at BRU here in the midwest, for cryin' out loud, three years ago. Definitely not upscale, not to be mentioned in the same breath with Bugs and Stokkes. I've been seeing a lot of Stokkes, relatively speaking, this spring.

Hi, I'm Katie Young, Marketing Communications Manager at Dorel Juvenile Group, makers of Quinny. I just wanted to address Mike’s posting above regarding Quinny distribution. While Quinny is being offered at Buy Buy Baby, we are proud that over 75 specialty retailers across the country are also carrying the Quinny Buzz (and Zapp, come August). We hope you have the opportunity to try a Quinny stroller -- we think you'll love the convenience of the Buzz’s automatic unfolding technology, or the ultra-compact, super-convenient fold of the Zapp. Thanks!

I tried numerous times to make a gift purchase for a friend that is expecting a baby boy, totaling $1459.40, not a small order. My order was cancelled twice since Nov 28th, 2007!
BEWARE of online transactions with this company-you may not have enough time to get the product if you are on a set time frame. I have wasted countless hours on the phone with inadequately trained phone drowns that have no sense of customer service.
I have been hung up on twice!-Once by the flag ship store.
I have had two Supervisors say that they would handle the situation, and did not follow through.
I have worked retail for over ten years and I am an owner of a children’s gym. If I knew that my employees let $1400 walk, I would be furious.
Take caution when dealing with this “mega-box” store!

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