Families rely on us. Help us survive the Pandemic!

Aim

We are raising funds to keep us here for the community! We're relied on locally by many families & are the only shop of our kind in the area

Hi, I'm Samantha. I own Mama's Closet in Barnet.

Like most stores, we are currently closed during this third lockdown.

** We are using this time to make and deliver free emergency bags to families with babies in need.
Follow our updates at facebook.com/shopatmamas **

The idea for Mama's Closet came about several years ago: I lost my job and then became homeless with my children after becoming unwell with MS and a rare disease called Neuro Behcet's Syndrome.

I was placed in a hostel with my children. We had very little money for clothes for my fast-growing children. There were other parents and pregnant ladies in the hostel in a similar situation.

Wishing there was somewhere affordable where parents could find everything they needed in lovely condition but on a budget, the idea for Mama's Closet came about!

I started buying maternity and children's clothes from the other residents.

 I then washed, pressed, and displayed them on two clothes rails in our room. The other ladies would come and buy items for themselves and their children. They were glad for the extra money happy they could have a whole outfit for their children including some shoes for just £5!

When I was finally housed, we brought more rails and moved the idea to a scout hall once a week to see if the idea would work on a slightly larger scale. It was a success! The only problem was the hall could only be used for a couple of hours once a week, and it was physically too difficult for me to keep lugging clothes and rails in and out of the hall.

I had very poor credit from being homeless, so I couldn't get a business loan. I saved up every penny I could and then eventually managed to get a tiny shop! The shop opened in April 2017 and has been popular with local parents ever since.

We are a sustainable business. Since the shop opened, we have saved over 4 tonnes of clothes from landfills and all have gone to new loving families!

Like many small businesses, having to keep closing during the pandemic has really had a huge impact on us financially.

We plan to use any money left to create an e-commerce solution that can be updated in real-time to allow us to sell items online.

We plan to use the rest to keep being able to buy items in and to help support the bills while the shop remains closed.

During lockdowns, we have run a free emergency essentials bank at our cost for people in the local area. This lockdown we are busy providing free baby essentials bundles to families in need. 

We continue to donate baby clothes to Barnet Hospital's Neonatal Unit and to charities.

This project successfully funded on 22nd March 2021