More, for less

AS any new parent knows, raising a child is an expensive business. A survey by the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation put the cost at £3,000 a year - which amounts to a staggering £50,000 by the time they are ready to leave home at 17. And the bank balance takes a particular pounding when the pitter patter of tiny feet first arrive.

Designer prams (plus rain cover, sunshade, parasol, matching bag); crib and cot, bedding, bumpers, steriliser, musical mobile, playmats, baby gyms, portable bath, babygrows, bibs and the obligatory cuddly toy all take their toll on the family finances, which are stretched anyway because quite likely mum has stopped work for a while.

Although most of the above are essential items, they are short lived ones. Babies often outgrow their first-size clothes before they've seen the inside of a washing machine a handful of times. Likewise, they are only in their Moses baskets and cribs for a few weeks before they settle in a cot. As for toys, their inquisitive minds demand new and different sources of stimulation, so again, these have a limited shelf life.

This inevitably means there are lots of attics filled with quality, hardly-used baby goods. And, because kitting out the nursery is so expensive, it is no surprise that York mum Liz Dawson's new venture is proving quite a hit.

Liz, 38, has opened the shop Baby Mode in Gillygate, York, selling excellent quality, second-hand baby goods, at half the price of what they cost first time around. Most of the products come from customers - who get a fifty per cent cut when any item is sold.

Liz got the idea for the shop after the frustrations of trying to sell her own children's gear. A single mum to Jennifer, nine, and Eleanor, four, Liz would regularly go to car boot sales to flog her wares - but would resent selling off good-quality gear for less than it was worth.

She says: "I look after my things and everything I used to sell at car boots was like new, but I'd only get one or two pounds for them, if I was lucky. They were definitely worth a lot more." From her own experience, she also believed that lots of parents would welcome nearly-new nursery goods.

"With my first daughter Jennifer, I bought everything new, which is what everybody does," she says. "And you make mistakes. Like most parents, I bought a fancy pram, but soon realised it wasn't what I needed. I reckon 80 per cent of parents end up swapping their expensive pram for a pushchair after about six months." Or even sooner.

Among the items in Liz's shop is a Dutch-made double buggy bought new for £500 and hardly used. "The owner realised it wasn't what she needed," explains Liz. "She only took it out two or three times." With a price tag of £245, it has been snapped up by a very happy customer.

To make it on to the sale rail, goods must be in very good condition. It would be easy to stumble across the shop without realising at first that the goods are second-hand, or pre-owned as Liz likes to call them.

"Second-hand sounds old or discarded. Pre-owned is a different term, which suggests quality. It sounds more like new," says Liz.

With quality the top priority for goods, Liz doesn't mind whether togs come from Tesco or some top designer.

"We had some velour pull-up trousers from Tesco which had probably been worn once or twice. They looked like new and they were snapped up quickly," she says.

Liz plans to turn around the stock regularly. Like other shops, she is stocking summer clothes at the moment. At the end of summer she will have a sale then restock with warmer wares. Clothes which are not sold will be returned to their owners or passed on to charity shops. The shop is roomy and can easily accommodate parents with prams and buggies. Baby changing facilities will be fitted by next month.

York mums Jane Benton and Rachel Burns are both happy customers, who heard about the shop from friends. Jane, who has a six month old daughter, Annabel, says: "It's really good. Things are cheap, but not tatty. You don't mind paying £4 for something they are going to grow out of in a month. It's really good for toys as well, which are very expensive."

Rachel, mum to seven-month-old Joe, says: "It's a really good idea. I've been to nearly-new sales run by the NCT, but they are only every six months or so. I like a good bargain. It's very expensive bringing up a baby, particularly when you have left work and have all this added expenditure, so something like this is really good."

- Baby Mode, 5 Gillygate, York. Telephone 01904 670880. Open Monday to Saturday from 10am-5pm. To find out more about selling your goods at the shop, telephone Liz or pop in for a chat.

Updated: 11:16 Tuesday, May 27, 2003