Baby Blues

Mothercare PLC (London), a mother and baby product retailer, announced it will close 15 under-performing town-center stores during the next year as it begins a three-year recovery program.

CEO Ben Gordon says the stores marked for closing have consistently produced poor sales and are unlikely to improve. The closures represent 8 percent of the retailer's stable of 173 town-center stores.

Gordon, who joined company as ceo in December 2002, recently outlined a recovery program for the struggling maternity and baby retailer.

“The business is on a stable platform and we have developed a plan to turn Mothercare around,” he says. “We are focusing on five key areas — store proposition, product and sourcing, supply chain, customer service and infrastructure.”

The retailer, which sells maternity, baby and children's clothes, nursery equipment and toys, operates more than 400 stores, including 60 superstores, located mainly in the U.K., as well as Europe, Asia and the Middle East.