A family-run nursery retailer near Bristol has credited its connection with local customers and online growth as it celebrates 40 years in business.
Baby & Co has had a shop on Temple Street in Keynsham since 1982, while it also operates a warehouse in Nailsea.
The business was founded by Ian and Claire Mills as Keynsham Pram and Cycle Centre, before changing its name to Buggies and Bikes in the 1990s. It later stopped selling bicycles to specialise in baby products including prams.
The couple’s son Jeff joined as a director in 2002 after working in the fashion industry. All three run the business together, with Ian overseeing the shop as managing director, Clare taking care of the book-keeping and buying while Jeff is in charge of the online operations.
Jeff Mills said it was “wonderful” for the company to celebrate its 40th anniversary, adding that its customers were the grandchildren of parents who first came to the shop when it first opened.
Mr Mills said that the local industry had “changed so much” since then. There were previously six independent nursery shops in the Bristol region, including well-known local brands such as Hurwoods in Old Market Street in Bristol city centre and Hardings in Bedminster.
Now only Baby & Co remains, while the only national retailer competing in the market is the Bristol branch of John Lewis following the closure of the Mothercare chain, which previously had three stores in the area.
Mr Mills said: “Margins have always been fairly tight in the nursery sector and big stores such as Mothercare were spending a lot of money on bricks and mortar stores when the industry was moving online.
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“The national chains were all based in big sheds out of town and people starting a new family wanted an experience that was more intimate and local.
“I still work in the shop every Saturday so I can interact with our customers and see what products they like and don’t like. If I was stuck in an office all the time, I wouldn’t get those kind of insights.”
The businessman - who now lives in Wiltshire, while his parents still reside in Keynsham - said Baby & Co had always looked to adapt, and became one of the first independents in the market to start trading online.
Mr Mills said the introduction credited a rise in ecommerce sales to the introduction of technology developed by Bristol-based software firm Brightpearl, which has automated processes such as order fulfilment and inventory management.
“When things were quiet, we could just about keep up with the manual tasks. But when orders spiked, such as after Black Friday, we would have to spend days working late just to key in the sales data from one day. It was crazy, and totally unsustainable.
“Now, thanks to Brightpearl, most of our workflows are automated and everything is synced so that we can get a real-time overview of the business at any time.”
Despite facing supply chain issues and rising prices, Baby & Co said it was confident it could continued to grow and deliver a "personalised shopping experience" for parents-to-be.
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Mr Mills said: “We’re excited about the future. And although there’s lots of uncertainty in retail right now, we are confident we have the business in a good shape for the next 40 years.”
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