The Mothercare brand will remain on UK high streets despite the collapse into administration of its UK retail business last month after a deal was struck to sell its products in Boots.
Mothercare’s stores and website are set to close in the early part of next year but Boots will offer its products online from the middle of next year and in stores by late summer.
Under the deal, Boots will stock Mothercare-branded clothing – expected to include own labels such as Jools Oliver’s Little Bird and Myleene Klass’s My K – as well as home furnishings and travel items such as pushchairs and car seats.
In future, Boots stores will host Mothercare shop-in-shops under an initial five-year deal expected to be finalised in the next three months.
The deal extends a long-term partnership between the two retailers established through the Mini Club childrenswear brand, sold in Boots stores and on boots.com.
Mark Newton-Jones, the chief executive of Mothercare, said: “Today’s announcement is fantastic news for the brand and the millions of Mothercare customers across the UK. It is also great news for Mothercare and our wider group of stakeholders after what has been a tough period. This partnership between Mothercare and Boots UK brings certainty and scale to our continuing group.”
Mothercare, which opened its first store in 1961 and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1972, put its UK retail business into administration after struggling to compete with cheap supermarket clothing ranges and the rise of online shopping.
The company made a pre-tax loss of £87.3m in the year to the end of March, compared with £72.8m in the previous year, as sales fell 11.8% to £336m.
Only 50 UK head office staff now remain to deal with running the group’s profitable international franchise business, which has more than 1,000 stores in more than 40 countries.
