One Four Four, Mamas & Papas boutique

We’ve created a small-format Mamas & Papas boutique for millennial parents-to-be. The new store, One Four Four, is part showroom, part community space – a flexible 170sqm destination offering an edit of leading products alongside an emphasis on wellness, experiences and gifting. From pregnancy yoga to personal shopping, the enhanced services are perfectly pitched for the store’s location on Northcote Road in Clapham, dubbed London’s ‘nappy valley’ for its concentration of affluent young families.

Following the huge success of Mamas & Papas’ new Westfield concept, which launched earlier this year, One Four Four continues to differentiate the brand and shopping experience to meet the expectations of discerning millennial shoppers. These mobile-savvy, health and eco-conscious consumers demand multi-purpose, inspirational stores with bespoke service, while using social media as a source of inspiration and self-expression.

One of the boutique’s unique features is the downstairs studio that transforms from an informative showcase and service area to host live events. Thanks to a new collaboration with renowned London fitness studio Frame, mums-to-be can attend bump sessions and pre/post natal nutritional talks with Frame experts in a programme of weekly local events.

A distinctive shop front revealing the new One Four Four identity and colour palette fits harmoniously among the area’s upscale boutiques, while the expressive interior boasts a specially commissioned hand-painted mural by British artist Hannah Rampley. The artwork leads the shopper from ground floor to basement, its woodland tree and animal motifs reflecting the brand’s new gifting range.

There’s also a fresh tone of voice to target expectant parents (rather than those whose babies have arrived) through messaging that’s full of excitement and inspiration.

The store is organised into ‘worlds’ based around key customer shopping missions, beginning with ‘Baby Fashion’ – a welcoming, eclectic fashion boutique featuring a beautiful reclaimed wood floor and found furniture pieces. Customers then move onto ‘Baby Home’, with a helpful nursery selector tool, and a beauty area where a bespoke designed cart lines up Cowshed and Neals Yard products for sampling – an opportunity for the brand to include something specifically designed for mum and extend beyond the standard maternity products.

Product is tightly curated to suit the small-scale format, with the full range available to shop digitally in-store. As there’s space for just one room set, a series of dolls’ house structures provide an ingenious miniature solution to merchandise nursery items in-situ.

Downstairs, there is a personal shopping seating area, a travel showcase that simplifies and guides parents through different pushchair options, and the playful addition of a swing to entertain children while their parents shop. This is joined by a community wall presenting Mamas & Papas’ new ‘Love for Life’ proposition, which advises on product aftercare, re-use and recycling – tapping into the social and ethical concerns of the target demographic. The layout is easily reconfigured around the boutique’s events, with a curtain drawn around the space to create a welcoming refuge for the local community of parents-to-be.

On launch day, shoppers were given the chance to use ‘social currency’. By posting a photo of themselves in the store on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter using #144Northcote, the first 50 customers were able to take home an exclusive Mamas & Papas gift.

Jonathon Fitzgerald, Mamas & Papas chief commercial officer, said, “Our customers want a personalised experience from us, they want it edited for them and they want to feel connected to the community.”

Fitzgerald added, “We’ll test and learn. This is the first in the potential roll-out of a concept that brings everything Mamas & Papas to the local community and has experience and wellness at its heart.”