ARTICLE by Natalie Brown

Looking Back on 2021

Jan 10, 2022 | Reading time: 6 minutes

I think it’s safe to say that 2021 flew by and, although it’s been somewhat unpredictable, 2021 had its fair share of highs and lows. The year may have started how 2020 ended; with many of us still working from home and schools operating virtually, but soon this all began to change…

Shortly into the year, we started to reunite with long-awaited loved ones and celebrate important days like weddings and birthdays – our 2021 looked very promising. Then, thanks to the world’s top scientists, more and more of us became vaccinated to help build a future protected from Covid-19. And, as the year closed, amidst all the uncertainty, 2021 still gave many of us hope in moving forward to ‘normality’ once again.

So, as we make our way through the first few days of the new year, it’s tradition to look back on some of our own highlights from the year passed. From moving headquarters to new, innovative consultation features, there have been so many exciting moments for us to remember, milestones to recap on and people to thank.

We've moved HQ!

This look back deserves to start with nothing other than one of our biggest milestones of 2021 – our HQ move. In November we all came together to help with the relocation into our new office and warehouse space which is now a whopping 43,000 square ft and will feature a new virtual shopping area, car seat fitting drive-through service, designed room sets for filming and much more. The newer, more energy efficient BREEAM standard building was just a short walk from our previous HQ which we moved to in 2018.

We were blown away by this gorgeous office that we now call our NBS home. It offered so much more space, so we were able house more products from our growing family of ethical brands such as Joolz, Silver Cross, Nuna and many more, including some brands that have been with us from the very beginning such as Tots Bots, Cuddledry, aden + anais and Merino Kids.

Happy 14th Birthday to us!

The year 2021 hosted Natural Baby Shower’s 14th birthday celebrations too! It felt like such an important birthday as we could enjoy as a team and in an office once more. After many of us had been working from home for the best part of a year, there were even some faces not yet seen off-screen!

It was amazing to take the day to appreciate the business successes – as what started from a simple idea and shaped by one mum’s passion for parenting and the planet, Natural Baby Shower has grown into a leading online and high street retailer - loved and trusted by families around the world.

Co-Founder Vics and Clifton had a wish to bring parents planet friendly parenting solutions and at 14 years strong, the company is what it is today. Filled with the same ethos and passion as the very first day it launched with its success a result of the amazing people throughout its journey.

Find out more on our 14th birthday celebrations here

We continued to give back...

Using our platform to give back and support charities is something we've always been passionate about. Charities faced unprecedented challenges and for some, are still recovering from the effects of the pandemic. Continuing into 2022, we will support 3 charities - 2 of which our withstanding partners Shooting Star Children's Hospice and Stripey Stork and since, Green Fingers Charity to help the community we love. We are proud to announce, since March 2021, we have also supported a fourth charity, Baby Basics.

As Christmas is a special time, we wanted to help to spread a little natural magic to our charities and more where we could! In early December we visited the team over at Shooting Star Children’s hospice to kit out their play space with a magical Christmas grotto area for all the children to enjoy.

And the giving didn’t stop there…

For both Giving Tuesday and Christmas Jumper day, we managed to raise thousands of pounds for our 3 chosen charities and Save The Children, plus donate some much needed baby essentials and bulk items such as pushchairs to both Stripey Stork and Baby Basics UK. We couldn’t have done it without the help of our amazing brands, with generous donations from Ergobaby and more.

More from our Bagshot store

We gave our Bagshot store a bit of a revamp this year! It has been our base for many years so we thought she deserved some love. With new interior styling, fresh product displays and revived upstairs space, it was fabulous for our lovely store team to come back to.

You can find our Bagshot store here.

Our NBS Community

We have been lucky enough to be able to welcome some brilliant new faces to the NBS team which now has over 70 employees. Natural Baby Shower has grown quickly over the years, with some such as our lovely Rachel, being with us since we started in 2007 - only the second employee to join the team!

Seeing the team grow from just 2 in 14 years has been amazing to see, and makes the new year even more exciting as we continue to acquire new members of the team.

If you would like to be join our team please check out our careers page for vacancies!

More babies to welcome!

As well as welcoming many new team members, we were also thrilled to welcome lots of new NBS babies too. 2021 saw the arrival of 3 little angels; introducing Milla Rae, Bodhi and Ava to our list of NBS babies!

New brands

As we see close the year, it seems only right to shout about some of the new brands that have joined the NBS family. Finding the right brands who share the same mission has been at the heart of Natural Baby Shower team right from the very beginning, which is why we are proud to house such an array of fantastic brands and collections. This year we’ve welcomed...

New video call feature

In line with our mission to help and support every parenting journey, we have invested time and energy into building more interactive, helpful services to make those first steps of parenthood that little bit easier.

Our team of nursery experts deliver the best service to our customers both in-store and online with the introduction of our new virtual shop feature, allowing customers to stay connected on a one-way video call, from the comfort of their own home.

Connect with one of our nursery specialists here

Moving Forward with 2022...

This year has brought so many great things to celebrate and by these standards, it will be tough one to beat! Although the new year may still seem a little uncertain, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In 2022 we will still be on the hunt for new innovative brands and continue developing services for the optimum shopping experience to help you – the customer. We are looking forward not only to the future chapters in our NBS journey and welcoming even more new faces to the team, but also carrying on with our mission to provide the best products for both baby, parents and the planet.