Success is very important. But even more important is how long you will make it last. In the business world it is well known and widely accepted that results in numbers reflect the positive course of a company. However, time and endurance throughout the years are two factors that prove the endurance of a company but also its future dynamics. Sixty years after its creation, mothercare can tell such a success story, a story of care and tenderness for mother and child.

Inspired by mothercare

#mother #child #care #legacy #mothecare #earlylearningcenter

By Mia Kollia
Translated by Alexandros Theodoropoulos

The vision was clear from the beginning: quality and safety would always be at the core of the company and would embrace all its decisions and activities. Ever since it was founded, 60 years ago, mothercare has as a compass and guide values ​​that build a relationship of connection and care with the future mother and her child in the long run.

For mothercare, success is measured in all these years that has embraced the needs and desires of parents and children. For all those who trust mothercare, success is reflected in the expectations that are always met, in the promises that are kept and in the service level which is constantly getting higher. Without a doubt, mothers, fathers and children are always harsh judges: they have high demands, they are not easily satisfied and no one can deceive them.

Thus, mothercare gained the trust of the most demanding public. Promoting people and putting them at the core, confirmed the business axiom: companies that operate in human-centered ways, with heart and deep empathy, are more resilient to adversities and more effective in the challenges of change and upheaval.

Open and honest communication between the employees of a company is another important factor for its viability and success. Staff who are constantly trained to have a thorough knowledge of the product collection, its technical specifications and available services, work much more efficiently and provide the best possible customer service.

However, there are other indisputable conditions for the successful course of a business that shouldn’t be overlooked and are practiced in mothercare: proper organisation, cutting-edge facilities, monitoring and implementation of the latest technology developments, infrastructure renewal, working environment, transparency at every level, the modern work and commercial philosophy that respects the person - visitor, customer and employee.

Developmental Milestones

The first mothercare store opened in 1961 in England. It initially specialised in strollers, baby room furniture and maternity clothes, but quickly expanded into every area of ​​accessories and clothing, for babies and children.
 
The Early Learning Center in Reading, England, was founded in 1974 with the theme of safe toys that help children develop in a friendly, emotion-focused and creative mind. From then on, within 60 years, mothers and children in 90 countries around the world have the opportunity to visit a mothercare store:
 
Greece was in the first places of the preferences of the founding company as a destination! Thus, in 1987, the first Mothercare store was built. Today it has 30 stores operating on the same, inviolable and non-negotiable principles: safety, comfort and hygiene, with emphasis on even the last detail.
 
Toys couldn’t be missing from the context of holistic care of mother and child. Toys provide children with the right stimuli at every stage of development, so that JOY learning takes place. Each child should develop in their own way, their imagination, creativity and the moving skills in this significant period of development!
 
In 2004, the landmark year for our country, the first Early Learning Center store opened in Glyfada, Greece. In 2007, ELC was integrated into mothercare. Since then we can find ELCs in 32 places all over Greece, in independent stores or together with mothercare.
 
Care and tender hug
 
That’s the first shelter of the future mother. That’s the place where she will find herself again and will experience the anticipation, making the most beautiful dreams for the room that will welcome her baby, slowly gathering everything she need to feel care and protection. In mothercare and ELC stores, mothers and children build relationships of trust based on the best possible care for the little protagonists of our lives at their most tender age.
 
 
 *** In Greece, mothercare and the early learning center are part of I.KLOUKINAS- I.LAPPAS SA which was founded in 1978 as a construction company but gradually transformed into a group of companies active in the retail and energy sector.