Thank you all for the attention. I am both flattered that you bother and intimidated by some of your reactions. As the founder and MD of JoJo Maman Bebe, I though you might like a few facts to gossip about. 1. We are an independent company and I live (relatively) locally, Sean. I launched the company 14 years ago as a mail order catalogue, with one part-time employee, who still works at JoJo. Our second employee and many subsequent employees have remained loyal and worked along side me to make JoJo what it is today. 2. We are not 'designer babywear' but we sell sensible, honestly made, good quality clothing for pregnant women, babies and children. Our prices are very reasonable considering we make in small quantities and do not mass-produce. Our cost prices are almost certainly about double that of the chain stores in our field, whose retail prices are not significantly different to ours. Very helpfull comparison images, Mark. 3. Our company name (thanks Joe for the 'obnoxious' comment), started off as JoJo, but due to public confusion we added the 'Maman and Bebe' to explain what we sell. Prior to launching JoJo I had worked in Brittany for 3 years and our design style is influenced by Breton nautical clothing. In case one or two of you (including James?) missed out on French lessons, Maman Bebe translates as Mother and Baby. 4. Our company ethos is to help our customers by placing our stores in local high streets which generally do not have enough dedicated stores of our type (hence we are not 'another pointless boutique'), and in many cases this adds to the regeneration of the area. We have come to East Dulwich after receiving persistent requests from local customers who did not want to buy mail order and are sensible enough not to want to put their toddlers in the car to drive to shopping centres. 5. We offer mostly cotton clothes, some of which is organic. We also offer a wide range of outerwear made from recycled fabrics. We design the collections in house and naturally can not be to everyone's taste, but we offer sweet clothes which allow babies and children to be just that, without being too 'middle England' or too 'tacky high fashion'. (Snorky -organic cottage sleepsuits are really comfy - you should try one.) 6. The company is run for the benefit of our employees, our brand building and our reputation. Whilst we have grown significantly since I started my first company with a ?3,000 loan from a brother (the banks would not support me) we are still very much a small company and hold on firmly to those values. So I'm sorry, to bore those of you who have had enough of this subject and thank you to Siduhe for your encouragement (which business lunch did I sit next to you at?). Peckhamboy, you make good sense. Please dont linch me when you see me bicycle down to check on our builders and I'm very, very sorry I am not opening a Sushi Bar but we do offer a very tasty selection of organic baby food ...
