Mothercare was founded in the United Kingdom in 1961, and specialized in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to eight years of age.

Later, the company's shares were listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, and mergers and acquisitions involved Habitat, British Home Stores and Early Learning Centre.

[1] The Early Learning Centre business – which operated in 80 UK stores and 400 overseas franchises – was sold to the Entertainer group in March 2019.

[15] In January 2019, Mothercare announced that its store closure programme was ahead of schedule and the group was on course to have 79 shops by the end of March 2019.

[20] In October 2024, after Mothercare received £16m from Reliance Brands for its 51% stake in their joint venture, the Gordon Brothers loan was replaced with an £8m arrangement.

[14] On 4 November 2019, Mothercare announced it was appointing administrators for its UK operations of 79 stores, placing 2,500 jobs at risk.

The company, which suffered a loss of £36.3m during 2018–19, stated the decision came after a review made clear that the business would not return to profitability.

Alshaya operates Mothercare franchises[22] in the Middle East, North Africa, central and eastern Europe and Russia.

[25] The British retailer Poundland planned to open a store in Biggleswade, dubbed "Motherland", with a logo similar to Mothercare's.