Markets for baby cast-offs booming

THEY cost more than £9,000 – and that’s just for the first year. Now thousands of parents are flocking to new “baby sales” to reduce the cost of bringing up a family.

The sales, which can turn over up to £10,000 a day, allow parents to buy and sell second-hand designer items, from Bugaboo strollers to BabyBjörn sling carriers, and have become so popular that stalls in many upcoming markets have sold out.

The demand is so great that one organiser – the Jack and Jill Market – has eight sales pencilled in for this month alone. Retail experts said the decline in families living close to each other was a contributory factor, as hand-me-downs are no longer easily available.

Parents can choose to set up their own stall at the dedicated sales for a small fee and sell on anything from clothes to toys and books for babies and toddlers, making on average £200 to £350 per stall. The only rule is that they cannot sell general household items, only articles specifically for babies and young children.

Nicole Diamond, 37, who founded the Jack and Jill Market, which now runs baby and child boot sales all over Scotland, said: “When you have hundreds of pounds of baby stuff that’s hardly been used sitting in the house, particularly in these economic times, it’s not that smart just to chuck it away. Instead we have parents who will come and sell their baby stuff on, meaning they can declutter the house and make a bit of money as well.”

Emma Deb, 32, who started the Baby Booty Sale in Glasgow last year with her friend June, said she has been overwhelmed by its popularity. She decided to go into business after coveting designer baby gear but realising, like many other mums, that they couldn’t afford to buy these items new.

“We thought, ‘What can we do to help out other mums and clear our stuff out, and make a bit of money too?’ That’s how it started, and we’re amazed at how popular it has become, and how quickly,” she said.

“Our most recent boot sale was held in Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall, and more than 500 people attended. We’re now hoping to expand out of the Central Belt later this year.”

Diamond said the recession has played a part in persuading parents that parting with enormous amounts of cash for brand new fashionable baby items was no longer wise. “The current economic times have created a shift and a different mentality in managing money,” said Diamond. “And it’s also timely because green issues and recycling are increasingly important. The fact the two have come together has made things like this really popular.

“A few years ago it was quite cool to have a designer brand rattle that cost £40, but now if a mum said she’d spent £40 on a rattle it would not be viewed in quite the same light. Mums still want these things, but they need to be a little bit savvier when deciding how to get them, and how much they are willing to pay for them.”

A survey conducted last year by friendly society Liverpool Victoria estimated that parents face a bill of £9,152 for the first 12 months of a baby’s life, taking into account expenditure such as buggies, cots and prams. It also suggested that the average cost of raising a child to the age of 21 was £201,809.

Tia Aitken, 23, who has two children, went to her first baby boot sale – a Jack and Jill market in Dunfermline – when she was pregnant for the second time.

“That first time I found a double pram for a quarter of the price I would have paid on the high street,” she said. “Everything is always in immaculate condition and there are all the high street designer brands such as OshKosh, Next and Mothercare. It’s just that they’re less than half price.

“It’s just so much easier doing it this way. It’s pointless going to buy new stuff that’s only going to be worn a couple of times.”

Professor Leigh Sparks, of the Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling, said: “It’s indicative of the fact that parents are recognising the potential of all the items they have and their value, and that this is something that could be beneficial in these difficult times,” he said.

“It’s also something that in previous generations might have been fulfilled within families or small communities. People would have been given hand-me-downs from relatives and friends, whereas now society is much more spread out and something like this fills that gap.”

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