Updated: Top 21 best baby stores in America for 2010

Time for our 2010 list of the best baby stores in America. We updated the list from last year, adding a few new stores this time around! So, drum roll . . . here are the 21 Best Baby Stores in America (in alphabetical order):

Baby Furniture Warehouse (Boston)           

Baby Love (Ft. Lauderdale)

Baby Super Mart (Broomall, PA)

Baby’s 1st (Houston)

Behr’s (Metro NY)                       

Berg’s (Cleveland, OH)

Galt Toys + Galt Baby (Chicago)

Georgia Baby (Atlanta)

Goores (Sacramento, CA)

Great Beginnings (Washington DC area/Maryland)

Ideal Baby & Kids (Miami); also known as La Ideal.

Juvenile Shop (Sherman Oaks, CA)

Karl’s (Philadelphia)

Kids Stuff Superstores (South Dakota, Nebraska)

Lazar’s (Chicago)

Lone Star Baby (Dallas/Ft. Worth)

Lullaby Lane (San Francisco)

Magic Beans (Boston)

Planet Kids (New York City)

Treasures Room (St Louis)

USA Baby (Milwaukee, WI location only)

Comments

[Philly Mom]

How on earth does Karl's in Philadelphia seem to make it on the list repeatedly? I live in Philadelphia and personally know at least 4 people who have had nightmare experiences with that store (including myself). In fact based on recent events, they've brought on a new salesman who is even worse than the family who owns the place.

These people are far from reasonable, they lie to their customers, blame the manufacturers for their mistakes and they wouldn't know customer service if it came up and smacked them in the face. Stop the insanity, stop recommending this place.

[Dr. Ari Brown / Denise & Alan Fields]

Re: [Baby Bargains Book Blog] Philly Mom submitted a comment to Updated: Top 21 best baby stores in America for 2010

Thanks for your feedback on our list. Were happy to hear any dissenting opinions about the stores we put on our Top 21 list. Feel free to email us---go to babybargains.com and click on the contact us button. Were happy to hear the good, bad or ugly experiences. Thanks again for taking the time to share this.

[Susan Kusel]

I'm so happy to see that Magic Beans, a family owned company, made your list! Great Beginnings is also terrific.

[marie]

Yay! Magic Beans gets the recognition it deserves. Amazing customer service. When my first crib never showed from another store, they got me a great crib ASAP delivered to my door. Several times with the internet and at chain stores I had bad experiences, kicking myself that I knew better and should have just gone to Magic Beans.

[Jennifer]

Hi- You mention USA baby's WI store. What is your opinion about the other USA baby stores in the country? I live in Richmond, VA and we have a USA Baby here, as well as a Babies R Us. I'm not sure which would be the best one to register with, and I didn't see a review for the USA Baby Stores in your 8th edition book. Thanks.

[Jen]

In Philly, Norman's is so much better than Karl's. Much more reasonable prices, and great selections.

[Michelle]

I agree - in Philadelphia the real hidden gem of a family owned baby store is Norman's in South Philly. Not much of a showroom but they can get anything you don't see in the store, for prices often better than online, and the customer service is fantastic. They fixed our Dutalier glider/recliner on a Friday night while we waited, because it was out of warranty - and they didn't charge me or anything.

[Rachael]

USA Baby declared bankruptcy in 2008. We used to have 3 of them here in Michigan & all of them are gone now. They were still taking orders until the day they closed their doors. Anyone who had an order with them or merchandise in their warehouse waiting for delivery, lost out.

[Becky A]

I registered at Juvenile Shop, and it was a terrible mistake. Anna was my consultant for the registry, and I should have known not to register with them when she pushed all the expensive items.

I not only registered with them, but also purchased some expensive furniture there myself. Overall, including my registry, I must have spent at least $7,000. Spending that amount in this economy, I stupidly believed that I would get great customer service. I was incorrect. I tried calling Anna a couple times to adjust something on my registry (you can't adjust the regsitry yourself online, like at Babies R Us), and I was always told that she was on the phone. So I would leave my name and phone number, expecting a call back, and she would NEVER call me back.

I ordered a dresser/changing table early-March, and I still have not received it. My mother-in-law called the store to find out when it would be delivered, and they said it should arrive around May 15th. I called today (May 17th), and they said it might take another 2-3 weeks. By the way, I'm due in 3 weeks. They have no remorse nor do they go the extra mile to even try to contact me when they knew I was expecting it to arrive this weekend.

I also registered at Babies R Us for my smaller items. They were FANTASTIC! Very helpful in the store (Calabasas location). And you can go online yourself to add or delete things from your registry. So you are in full control!

[expectant mom]

I would highly discourage customers from shopping at Bher Furniture in Long Island. I first learned about the store through baby bargains.. I was coming from NYC and was supposed to go with my mom to pick out the crib and dresser but my mom was feeling under the weather that day. Since my due date was quickly approaching and I had not done much research on cribs (I had names of a few manufacturers that I was considering based on what i had researched) I decided to make a trip to the Behr show room on my own and come back with a few models that i had down selected.

At first when i walked it, I was excited and a bit overwhelmed with the vast array of furniture that was in front of me. I asked one of the sales associates to help me learn more about the different cribs, as I walked through the show room. He responded with “here is a note pad and pen, write down the model numbers you like and we can than talk about it at the end” At first I was taken aback, but then I thought, well at least he won’t be pressuring me to make a purchase. After I had walked through and identified about 8-10 cribs that I liked, I asked for brochures. As he started to help me, his manager told him to attend to another customer in the store (one that was ready to make a purchase) Mind you there were about 4-6 sales people on the floor. Right, of course, go to where the quick money is, vs. investing in a relationship. I was a bit annoyed since,I was eventually going to make a purchase, even if it was not that day, and I would have appreciated the customer service. I also wanted to look at gliders after that. If you have never looked at baby furniture before, it can be quite overwhelming the 1st time you do; who knew a simple thing like a glider came in so many styles, woods, finishes, cushions, features, etc.?? So a but of help from the sales staff would have gone a long way. I got the brochures finally when the store started to clear out and all the sales staff were starting to twiddle their thumbs... talk about shark like sales people! I came back about a week or 2 later to place the order of one of the cribs I liked. Behr’s offered me a $10 gas card, 10% off on the dresser and $100 off the mattress, I figured that may have been a good deal. I placed the order and was ensured that I could cancel any time up to before the furniture was delivered to my home. Since we were paying A LOT for the set I decided to shop around for the same set at places in the city and to my surprise I was able to get the same crib, dress and mattress for almost $400 cheaper!!! Wow, That a savings if I ever heard of one. and they offered to deliver the furniture in 4-6 weeks as opposed to 8-10 that her was offering. Since I only had 7 weeks left, I naturally decided to place the order at the store in the city. I called Bher to cancel the order/get a refund and they would not do it over the phone, even after they said that I could when the order was put in. they insisted I come into their store to get the refund, even when they had the original customer receipt. Living in the city this was a huge pain for me. They were able to cancel the order from the showroom over the phone but in the same vain they could they not grant me a refund over the phone. I had to make a special trip to LI, being 8 months pregnant to get he $400 refund. The Manager of the store "John Smith" was unpleasant to deal with over the phone.

I eventually placed my order at planet kids in NY,. they are a much smaller store in Manhattan but the customer service is superb. No matter how many customers come in they will be sure they attend to you if they stared out helping you. I would highly recommend going to Bher’s to window shop and if you need a forum to do your research. of course having a show room in LI you have the luxury to have tons of cribs on display. But shop around other places when making the order. If you love in Manhattan, I would highly recommend Planet Kids.

By the way, I thought my experience was a one off but I was just visiting my girlfriend that just had a baby and she told me that she also didn’t end up purchasing her furniture at Behr b/c they were much more expensive and the customer service was much better at planet kids. Seems to be a consensus!

Your pregnancy should be stress free, why go to Bhers Kids in LI only to be stressed out with the poor customer service.

[expectant mom]

If you want good customer service DONT GO TO BHER'S in Long Island

[expectant mom]

I just wanted to follow up on my review above. After expressing my frustration with Bher Customer Service i received a phone call from Mr Bher the next day, who offered to remedy the situation. It seemed to me as if he was not aware of his staff's actions. In any case, he was able to refund my order over the phone, saving me a trip from the city to LI. Im not sure why they couldn’t just do that from the beginning. That simple gesture could have gone a long way. I really appreciated his prompt attention and willingness to remedy the situation. Now that is more like the customer service I expect when I'm looking to spend $2000 on furniture!