Gro Blog

Gro in Valencia

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:18:00 GMT

The Gro Company products were fabulously displayed on the Mimame stand at the January nursery fair in Valencia, Spain. Lisa Joyce, Head of Design and Ian Fitzpatrick, Head of Sales, went along to the show and were overwhelmed by all the positive feedback received about our new spring/summer Grobag Baby Sleep Bag designs. Also they supported the international launch of our Gro-clock at the fair along with other well-established products such as the Gro-egg, Gro-light and the Grobag First Duvet Bedding Set. We had a fantastic reception and were proud to be a part of the show.

The new iZi Combi X3 from BeSafe has arrived!

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:15:00 GMT

The Gro Company is pleased to announce the arrival of BeSafe’s new iZi Combi X3! The new version of the rearward facing iZi Combi car seat has a brand new neck support which, along with the harness, is easily adjustable to 8 height positions. The neck support ensures good side impact protection without ruining the child’s view.

Also the innovatively developed belt holder system makes it easy to attach the belts at the sides, by the use of magnets, so they are not in the way when you put the child in the seat. Unique!

VOTE FOR GROBAG IN TOMMY’S GLAMOROUS LET’S GET BABY FRIENDLY AWARDS 2010

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:05:00 GMT

This year The Gro Company is nominated for a prestigious Tommy’s Let’s Get Baby Friendly Award 2010 and needs parents’ support!

Tommy’s Let’s Get Baby Friendly Awards has been running for 15 years and aims to celebrate, thank and encourage organisations that go that extra mile to make life easier for mums and dads across the UK. Tommy’s understands that life with a little one can be stressful at times and that’s why they are giving you the opportunity to vote for the organisations that you believe make life as a parent that little bit more relaxing.

The category that Grobag Baby Sleep Bags have been nominated for is Best Nursery Brand.

Rob Holmes from The Gro Company, commented:
“We are extremely proud that our Grobag Baby Sleep Bag has been nominated in the Tommy Let’s Get Baby Friendly Awards 2010 for the ‘Best Nursery Brand’. Our company ethos is to invent products which help make parenting easier, that’s why we invented the Grobag brand back in 2000 when very few UK parents used a baby sleep bag. Now over 90% use a baby sleep bag, and we are delighted to say that we have changed the way UK parents put their babies to bed. Winning the Tommy award would be a great honour for us here at The Gro Company. So please don’t forget to vote by visiting our website, http://www.bumpto3.com/gro/gro_grobags or www.tommys.org/awards.”

Tommy’s Chief Executive, Jane Brewin says:
“During pregnancy and in parenthood, the support you are offered really can make all the difference. The Tommy’s Lets Get Baby Friendly Awards exist to celebrate the often selfless support given by friends, families and health professionals when expectant parents need it the most and also the companies that parents believe should be praised for the lengths they go to be baby friendly. We want to say a big thank you on your behalf to those who have made a difference to you so if you think an individual or company deserves to be recognised get voting online!”

THE VOTING PERIOD FOR ALL CATEGORIES STARTS 11 JANUARY AND ENDS 22 FEBRUARY 2010. So don’t delay vote today!

A new product idea!

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:38:00 GMT

We have all been snowed in at home except for a couple of people who have made it into the office and been inspired by the snow! Lisa Joyce, our Head of Design and Dave Ross, our ICT Manager have come up with a new product idea that compliments the doll and teddy Grobag!

Any comments welcome.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:22:00 GMT

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wish you every success for 2010. We here at The Gro Company have lots to look forward to in 2010.

Come and see us at the Baby Show between 19 - 21 February at ExCel in London.

Watch out for our new Spring/Sumer Bumpto3 catalogue which will be out on 23^rdFebruary 2010. You can also buy all the new Bumpto3 products online at www.bumpto3.com.

Plus look out for lots of new ‘Gro’ product ideas in 2010 which will help make parenting easier.

Blue Moon

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:55:00 GMT

Account Manager, Mark Stephens, has helped our retailer, Blue Moon in Henley on Thames, with their ‘Gro’ Point of Sale display. They have done such a fabulous job of dedicating an area for our stock and displaying our ‘Gro’ products so beautifully.

If you want to visit them their address is: Blue Moon, 30 Market Place, Henley on Thames, RG9 2AH.

If you are one of our retailers and need help with your ‘Gro’ display then don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thanks ‘Blue Moon’

Click, click, click

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:05:00 GMT

Today we are doing a photo shoot in Ashburton for our Spring/Summer 2010 Bumpto3 catalogue. There are loads of new and exciting products that we will be photographing, and I’m really excited as I get to model.

Look out for our next catalogue to see the results!

Katy

BeSafe’s iZi Sleep wins prestigious silver at the Mother & Baby Awards

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:16:00 GMT

The Gro Company joined forces with BeSafe, the market-leading Norwegian brand, to distribute their products in the UK and on Thursday 19 November BeSafe won the prestigious Silver Award in the ‘Best Car Seat – Group 0 & 0+’ category at the 2009 Mother and Baby awards ceremony in London.

Health professional recommend that small babies should not be left in a seated position for long periods. BeSafe’s iZi Sleep, which is suitable for children weighing 0-13kg, converts into a lying position when you leave the car so you don't have to wake the baby when you get home, keeping babies, safe, sound and sleeping peacefully when it's time to get out of the car.

The Gro Company and BeSafe are delighted to have won this fantastic award.

Rob Holmes, founder of The Gro Company, expressed his joy on winning: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won the Mother & Baby Silver Award for BeSafe’s iZi Sleep.

“The Mother & Baby awards are judged by real parents who need products such as the iZi Sleep to make their lives easier and we are delighted to accepted this award.

“The Gro Company is committed to creating a safe sleep product range that’s why another five of our products were short listed for the 2009 Mother & Baby Awards, and it is a real boost to be able to invent products which help make parents lives easier.”

Marketing welcomes a new member of staff

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:55:00 GMT

The marketing team would like to say a big welcome to their new member of staff – Ralph!

Ralph’s interests include: sleeping, eating, chasing and collecting stamps. Ralph’s working week is Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Welcome to the team Ralph!

It’s PINK Day!

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:51:00 GMT

It’s PINK day here at The Gro Company as we are raising money to help beat breast cancer.
Everyone has come to work dressed in pink and we have awarded the pinkest people a prize. Congratulations Rachael our Pink-Princess and Shaun our Pink-Prince! You both look beautiful.

Photo-shoot complete! Hurrah!

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:24:00 GMT

We have just completed our Spring/Summer 2010 photo-shoot in Totnes Devon. We got some great photos and can’t wait to use them!

And the winner is...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:20:00 GMT

It’s award season here at The Gro Company!

We are looking forward to the Mother & Baby Awards evening on the 19 November 2009 where we will find out if our shortlisted products have won.

The products which have been shortlisted are:

We are keeping our fingers crossed for our Grobag Baby Sleep Bag and Gro-clock winning a special award on the night.

Competition was high for the 2009/2010 Practical Parenting Awards as a large number of products were entered from the nursery industry so we were delighted to find out that our Grobag Baby Sleep Bag won a ‘Silver Award’ in the ‘Nursery Product Category’ and our Gro-clock scooped the ‘Bronze Award’ in the ‘New Product category’.

And that’s not it!

Our Gro-clock has been entered for the ‘International Forum Design’ (iF) Award. The iF product design award recognises products that ingeniously unite functionality, comfort and aesthetics and embrace the challenges of innovation. Our Gro-clock has passed the first round of judging and has gone to Germany for the final round of judging, which takes place in November. We will find out if we are a winner in December. To win this design award would be amazing. Gro-clock you rock!

‘Gro’ on show at Bentalls

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:55:00 GMT

We’re really pleased with our new ‘Gro’ area in Bentalls, which is one of our retailers based in Kingston Upon Thames. They have done such a fabulous job of dedicating an area for our stock and displaying our ‘Gro’ products so beautifully.

They currently stock our:

Grobag

Gro-clock

Gro-egg

Gro-light

Gro Anywhere Blind and Bumbo Baby Sitter

If you want to visit them their address is: Bentalls, Wood Street, Kingston Upon Thames, KT1 1TX

Thanks Bentalls

Celebrities at The Baby Show

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:04:00 GMT

We gave our 'Peek-a-Zoo' Grobag Baby Sleep Bags to the following celebrities at The Baby Show:

Karen McShee, “Quadmum”, recently given birth to quadruplets
Sarah Parish, actress, who is pregnant
Lisa Scott Lee, singer, she has a boy aged 18 months and 4 week old girl
Harriet Scott, radio presenter, she is also pregnant.

We hope they love their Grobags!

The Baby Show was a great success

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:17:00 GMT

The marketing and sales team had a fabulous time at the Baby Show last weekend! With record breaking attendence figures we were run off our feet but it was so great to meet our customers face-to-face, show them all our gorgeous new Grobag designs and talk about their exciting new arrivals.

What's in the box?

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:17:00 GMT

The Research & Development team are full of excitement today as the box of first samples arrive full of our new Spring/Summer products! Watch this space for more information on our fabulous new range of products in the coming months!

Babies safest in own cots experts confirm

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:17:00 GMT

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) has funded a four-year study* carried out by the researchers from Bristol University that was published today in the British Medical Journal. The research confirmed that “the safest place for a baby to sleep is in its own cot”. It was found that half of all unexpected deaths of children in the South West of England died sleeping with a parent or carer.

FSID and The Gro Company has worked together to produce a Safe Sleep Guide – please click here to register for your Safe Sleep Guide.

FSID's director, Joyce Epstein, said; "We know that those at greatest risk of experiencing a cot death are very young mums, often single, and still in their teens, and this group is the most likely to reject safe sleep advice."

So FSID has launched a social networking website, www.bubbalicious.co.uk, aimed at supporting teenage parents. It’s a fab website. Click on the link and have a look!

If you want to read the whole research click British Medical Journal.

*Case-control study of SIDS in Southwest England dangerous co-sleeping environments and risk factors amenable to change Fleming et al January 2003 – December 2006

Baby Show here we come!

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:36:00 GMT

We are at the Baby Show in London starting on Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October. Come and see us at Earl's Court stand number A24.

The Grobag Team

The Gro Company wins Practical Parenting Awards

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:05:00 GMT

We are absolutely delighted to have won the Practical Parenting awards 2009/2010 for our Grobag Baby Sleep Bag and Gro-clock.

The competition was high as a large number of products were entered from the nursery industry so we were delighted to win the ‘Silver Award’ in the ’Nursery Product Category’ for our Grobag Baby Sleep Bag and the 'Bronze Award’ in the ‘New Product category’ for our Gro-clock!

The Practical Parenting awards are judged by real parents who need products such as the Grobag and Gro-clock to make their lives easier and we are thrilled to have created these products which helps parents get a good night’s sleep as well as the children. We are committed to creating a safe sleep product range which is trusted by parents and it’s such a boost to receive this wonderful endorsement.

“Is there a doctor in the office?”

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:48:00 GMT

“Is there a doctor in the office?” Actually...yes! We decided to health check all our staff, much to their excitement, to give them the opportunity to take control of their own health and lifestyle. The health screening company called Screenetics gave everyone a consultation lasting for an hour. They tested cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure, body composition, bone mineral mass and a nutrition and lifestyle assessment- as you can see from the picture this was me having my blood pressure tested! They even worked out how old your actual body is although I’m not sure many people would tell you theirs! All I will say is that I started a keep-fit campaign the next day and after 20 years of drinking tea with sugar, I am now sugar-free…