baby store recommendations?

Liza3394

DH and I are planning to go look at some big ticket items at a few stores this weekend. (cribs, strollers, carseat?) I'm not looking for a place to definitely register yet - but we need to see some stuff in person, use it/play with it and decide what we want. Where did you go? where would you recommend?

Particularly - Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby - do they have good customer service in those departments? I'm open to smaller non-chain stores as well. 

TIA!!

meggiednm

I was about to suggest Babies R Us, but i don't have the experience of shopping for myself/testing things out, i've only gone to buy registry item gifts. Is there a BR in Brooklyn? Cuz i can only think of the one in Union Square.

GL!

dnagal

Of the two, I like Buy Buy Baby much better, generally they carry higher end products and the stores are cleaner with more helpful staff. (I HATE the BRUs in Westchester, it's totally gross.   But, you may want to check out both.  Buy Buy baby is really only local, but Babies R Us is everywhere, so if you wanted to set up a registry it would be more accessible to OOT'ers.  (but in the days of the web, it maybe doesn't matter so much anymore)  Another great baby store in the city is Albee Baby.  Also, you should really get the book "Baby Bargains" for this year--it was my bible for figuring out how to compare different brands/models/features for baby gear.  Another decent sources is the Stroller Queen website, lots of reviews of high-end strollers.

Lisichka

I have to preface this by saying that we didn't buy any of the big-ticket items, we got all of them (except for our little travel stroller) as hand-me-downs. However, I have to say that if you go to BRU here in Brooklyn, don't go to the one on Bay Parkway: it's pretty small, their selection is not that good (if you want to try out the strollers, etc.) The one on Gateway Plaza is a lot bigger with better selection. I also like the BRU in SI, it's fairly large with decent selection.

I've never been to Buy Buy Baby or Albee Baby, so I can't recommend those. But as dna said, Baby Bargains is supposed to be a great guide to buying all these things (again, never bought that since we were getting everything handed down). Good luck. And have fun!

Carrieland

my bff who had a baby 8 months ago loved buy buy baby.  she felt like the customer service was way better there and they had more of a selection that catered to their taste.  they said at bru, they couldn't get a lot of customer service help and that in general, they were not happy.  look into both and see what is going to be most convenient for you.

Pokeybear1

I registered at the Gateway Plaza BrU and it was terrible. I would have registered at Buy Buy Baby but it wasn't convenient for the majority of the family.

I love Buy Buy. There crib selection is much better. The customer service is great. They take Bed Bath and Beyond and all competitors coupons.

 

I ended up buying my crib at an outlet crib store on Staten Island. It was the same make and model as one I saw at both BrU and Buy Buy but for 1/4 of the price because the style was being discontinued.

 

 

Liza3394

Thanks ladies!! I think we're definitely going to check out Buy Buy Baby (the 7th ave one is closest i think for us). But I also want to check out Giggle and Bumb to Baby.

roxnyc

Echoing other people - Buy Buy Baby definitely has much better customer service than BRU, but it can definitely depend on the person you get there (I live near and frequent the 7th ave one).  I would definitely recommend Giggle - their customer service is the best (particularly the one in Soho).  My girlfriend just bought her Uppa Baby from there and they put the entire thing together for her.

 

One note - Buy Buy Baby takes returns on ANYTHING they have in stock without a receipt for store credit - even if you didn't buy it from them.  Comes in handy....