So, I was really happy to see that there are online businesses that let you shop for fruits and veggies from the comfort of your computer. And so far, I have tried two of them, and I will talk a little bit about both.

Disclaimer: both these services will be charging you more than the market rate of the goods you buy. I think that is natural. The pros are that you can order late at night, or from your office – it’s one task off your list of to-do’s.

The first and my recommendation from the two choices:

Farm2Kitchen (www.farm2kitchen.com) has a decently designed website and carries a very decent selection of fruits and vegetables. While on their website they say that they deliver to a limited number of places (and my location was not one of them), when I placed the order, it arrived the next day (they also offer same day delivery under certain conditions).

Another thing that they offer, which is a good idea is “Automatic Orders” – it’s like buying fruits and vegetables through a subscription service – you basically get a pre-defined bouquet of goods every week at a designated time. This way you don’t have to remember to order your most commonly used things.

Pros: the following is what I liked about Farm2Kitchen:

• Quality – the fruits that were delivered were of an excellent quality. Better than what we normally get from the local market.
• On Time – I received the goods I purchased on their site the very next day.

Cons: the following is what is not the best about them:

• Price – they are priced higher than the market and also their competitor.
• Progress updates – I wish they were giving better updates on my order. For instance, I would have liked to be called before the order left for my house the next day (what if I wasn’t home).

All in all, I still like them better, and will repeat with them.

The second service looks to be a more established player in this area, but doesn’t get my vote:

MandiFresh (mandifresh.co.in) is also a nicely designed website, and offers a comparatively larger variety of things that you can buy. I placed an order on this website as well, and the same fruits that I ordered on Farm2Kitchen.

Their stuff is priced lower on average from Farm2Kitchen – however, when they arrived with my order, it was sent back. The chikoos were all squished. The best part about it all is that the guy never came back with the order, and I wasn’t called by them – no apology note, or anything.

To top it all off, I received an SMS saying “your order has been delivered” – or something similar.

Pros: here’s what I like:

• Price – closer to market price, but looks like it represents the quality – or maybe it was a one-off chance with them.
• Better established – they have a lot of good things on their site which makes me think that they have a better handle on things – just need to improve quality.

Cons: what I don’t like:

• Quality – when I shop online, I expect that I will receive good quality since I am not physically present to inspect the purchase. They really need to improve this.
• Customer service – like I said, no one got back to me about the non-delivery/non-acceptance of that order.

For me at least, I am not ordering from them unless I am desperate.

If you try either of these services, or have tried them in the past, please do leave a note here on how you liked or disliked them. Thanks.

The Early Learning Center is a UK based company which sells toys for young children. Their toys are designed to develop and enhance various skills that are vital for children at different ages (motor skills, hand eye coordination, problem solving, imagination, reading, social skills, etc.). These toys are also grouped by age-groups, so you are sure to get the right toy for your child.

The ELC store in Gurgaon is located in Ambience Mall, on the same floor as MotherCare – a couple of shops apart from MotherCare (the ELC chain of stores is owned by MotherCare). Its a decent sized store as toy stores go in Gurgaon, and so you are sure to find something for your child. We have been there a few times and have always come back with a purchase (its great for buying gifts too).

As I mentioned, these toys are great for developing various skill of your child. They are very attractive as you can see. I took the photos from the ELC UK website, but these are the actual toys we bought for our baby daughter from Ambi mall.

You can click on each photo to read description of that toy on the ELC website, and there are customer reviews there as well from people who have used them. Our daughter loves the toys, and spends a lot of time with them. The construction quality of the toys is pretty good, and the company claims to test them thoroughly before they are put in the market.

As is often the case of imported stuff, it is on the expensive side. There is a decent sized markup on the toys sold in the Gurgaon store from the prices on the UK website, however, IMO these toys are so nicely designed that we don’t have a problem in paying the price. So, the worth of the toys is a very subjective decision, though by no yardstick are these cheap. Additionally, I would expect that a store such as this should have knowledgeable sales staff, people who actually know about children and their needs. That is not the case, so if you are looking for advice on these toys, you won’t find people in the store very knowledgeable.

Bottomline: great toys which are on the expensive side. If you are looking for toys which you can be sure are safe for your kids, and fun too, the ELC store is one of the best bets in town.

Mother Care is a well known international brand for parenting and children needs. I have often blogged about how limited the choice of stores in Gurgaon is for maternity clothes (a couple of options here and here), and now there is another that you can add to the list. Here’s my quick fire review of the place based on one visit.

Maternity Clothes

This is certainly a focus for me right now, since my wife is 6 months in. And when we saw this store, we were very happy and went in straight away. Now, there is definitely a dedicated selection for maternity clothes, but it was overall disappointing – not enough daily wear options were there. However, it has better selection than any other store in Gurgaon.

Infant Clothes

Tons of options. You should find what you need. Having said that, we were looking for a gift for a 4 month old, and came back empty handed because we couldn’t find anything that we liked. Once again, the store is way better than anything else in Gurgaon, but still lacks a lot.

One instance pops out – we liked a pair of socks, which were available in green. We wanted the same pair in blue which was also available. But the blue option was only available if you buy it with a cap as well. I found this very frustrating.

Other stuff

There are many other things such as prams, cribs, shoes, etc. It can easily serve as a one stop shop for all your parenting needs.

Conclusion

We think that the lack of options right now is because the store is brand new, and the merchandise is still being setup with a lot of product still not unpacked. It is so new that the location is not even mentioned on their stores page on the Internet (at the time of writing this article).

Overall, a great place.

The closest to what we needed turned out to be LifeStyle Home Center in DLF Plaza Mall near IFFCO chowk. We had been there several times before, and had always found the selection good, but not what we wanted. After several weeks of not finding what we needed, we decided to just go and buy from Home Center whatever we find.

Here are the good things about this place:

• Variety of furniture items: a very large selection of beds are available to choose from. So, you should find something that you like (unless you are super choosy like us). There are several options on dining tables, sofa sets, and wardrobes as well. They lack any office/home-office furniture, though.
• Quality of goods: the workmanship is good because everything is produced through standardized processes, so you don’t see improper paint, or unpolished wood, etc. as you might see in some of the shops at MG road.
• Professional servicing: the people who came to assemble the bed at home knew what they were doing, carried proper tools, and did a very efficient job of assembling the bed.

Here are the things that we didn’t like:

• Discount policy: there was a discount being offered on the bed that we bought. When we made up our mind to buy, we were told that the discount is given in the form of vouchers for the store, which forces you to make another purchase from them.
• Poor delivery service commitment: We were told that the bed will be delivered at our home the next day and it will be assembled at home. What NO ONE told us during the purchase process is that these two things can be very disconnected. The bed was delivered the next day, but they mentioned that the assembly team can take up to 48 hours (post delivery) before they come for assembling the bed (as per their policy). We found this to be utterly ridiculous. Why send the bed in pieces to us if no one was going to come over and assemble it for 2 days. After much fighting over the phone, they sent someone the next day (not even the same day, even though they promised over the phone that it will be the same day).
• Poor inventory management: Earlier we had thought of buying a mattress separately, but since we now had to use those discount vouchers, we decided to purchase the mattress from the store itself. They were able to offer us the type of mattress that we wanted (pocketed spring). However, once we chose the mattress, we were told that the mattress will take 15 days to deliver. So, now we have a bed without a mattress, which will come in another 10 days or so. We think this is a major customer service failure.
• Pricing: We think that there is a 15%-25% premium on their prices, but there is a lot of convenience in dealing with them, so maybe its worth it.

In conclusion, we think the place is worth shopping, if you are aware of the negatives before hand. What have your experiences been at this store?

Let me just say, we didn’t come back disappointed.

This place (like That’s Cute) is also a kids store with kids wear, accessories, toys, etc. which also carries Maternity Clothes. The store itself is located on the Upper Ground (UG) level in DT Mega Mall.

My wife didn’t find a huge variety of clothes, but she did have a number of selections to choose from. We ended up buying some tops for her. The main point is that even at full price, this place was cheaper than the discounted (on sale) prices we paid for stuff we bought at That’s Cute.

The store owner said that they get fresh stocks every couple of weeks, so we will check it out again. They do have a website, but its pathetic and non-functional. Not sure why they bothered to even put it up. So, to actually see what they offer, you will have to visit.

Even though now we know of two places where we can shop for clothes for my growing wife, it is sad that there are no big stores specializing in this type of apparel.

We did come upon ONE store which specializes in maternity clothes. And although there is little choice (they were having a clearing sale at that time), at least there is choice. The place is called That’s Cute and is in Ambi Mall. You can find it on the second floor towards the end where the Reliance store is.

The good thing about the store is that they have a fairly interested store owner who gave us a lot of attention and helped out in general. We did choose a couple of items for my wife, but both needed fitting out and they were more than willing to carry out the customizations (this wasn’t just normal length alteration). You can visit their website to take a look at their catalogue by clicking here. You can even purchase online, although for clothes I suggest visiting the store.

They will be having a new line of clothes soon, and we will surely be going back for checking it out again. Do you know of any other places in Gurgaon that sell maternity clothes? If yes, then please leave a comment.