NURSERY products firm Mamas & Papas is bucking the retailing slump to open new stores in the UK and overseas this year.
And the company is set to create more jobs at its Huddersfield headquarters as a result of the ambitious expansion plans.
The family-owned firm, which already employs 500 staff at its Colnebridge site, will open its first store in Beijing at the end of May – the start of a five-year programme to open 100 stores in China.
Two stores will open in South Africa this summer – at Durban and Cape Town – while another will open in Beirut, Lebanon.
Mamas and Papas – known for bringing flair and fashion to the nursery goods sector and its celebrity mums such as Alicia Keys and Gwen Stefani – already has stores in North America, the Middle East, Russia, Europe, Japan and South Korea and five distribution centres worldwide.
Its overseas stores run through franchise partnerships with existing retailers.
In total, Mamas & Papas sells its ranges of nursery items, maternity wear and toys through 3,500 stores, franchises and independent retailers in 49 countries.
In the UK, where Mamas & Papas has 64 stores, the firm opens its seventh store in Yorkshire later this month at the new Trinity shopping development in Leeds, while another store will open at Fareham, in Hampshire, this year.
Deputy chief executive Tim Maule said the expansion programme went hand-in-hand with millions of pounds of investment in product design, rebranding and e-commerce development.
He said: “Every year, we support £5m of product development. In the last two years, we have invested £2m on a new warehouse management system and IT initiatives.”
A new transaction website for its American market, representing 18 months of development work, is now up and running – entirely managed from Huddersfield.
Product development and testing at the Colnebridge site has also resulted in new products including the BabySnug ‘low chair’ – which took three years to develop.
Mr Maule said the firm has sold 130,000 of them in the USA alone and hundreds of thousands more in Asia where high chairs are less popular because families traditionally eat at low tables while sitting on the floor.
It has also developed its Urbo range of pushchairs, which are marketed with less traditional families in mind – such as single parents and same-sex couples.
Mr Maule said Mamas & Papas was bucking the trend thanks to the effort put into product development and “understanding what our customers want”.
He said: “We have researched our markets. China, for example, is seeing significant growth in its middle class. No-one can ignore the economic success of China and we have to be there.
“It has taken five years of hard work, but we now have a fabulous franchise partner with the right strategy and the ability to open stores around the country.
“There has been a change in the country’s one-baby policy and we expect the birth rate there to grow.”
Mr Maule said Mamas & Papas, led by founders Luisa and David Scacchetti, was able to plan long-term because it was family-owned and not driven by the short-termism of the City.
The firm’s expansion plans would mean more jobs for Huddersfield in product development and e-commerce, but said it was too early to say how many posts would be created.
He said: “While other retailers are having tremendous problems on the high street, we are very committed to a future in Huddersfield and West Yorkshire.
“We want to make sure our global headquarters is in Huddersfield. For us, Huddersfield is the centre of the world.”
