Big W shoppers are furious after the popular department store quietly changed the layout of its children’s clothing section.
The Australian retailer updated its 177 stores by rearranging shelves according to size and age rather than gender.
Stores have grouped sizes 1-7 and 8-16 together, and many parents say there is no clear distinction between “boy” and “girl” offerings.
The decision has frustrated parents who now find it “almost impossible” to quickly find the clothes their children prefer to wear.
‘Can I just say that the new design of children’s clothing is horrible! Some clothes for girls, some for boys and then a mix,” one shopper wrote on Facebook.
‘I hate him! I mean, my daughters often wore “boy clothes” since they liked dinosaurs and stuff, and they were never into girly things like fairies and princesses. But at least I knew where to find them. Mixing them is annoying and is only done to please a minority,” another mother wrote.
“This is especially frustrating because girls’ clothing is traditionally a slightly smaller size, so if they’re going down this route then the sizing needs to be checked to make it appropriate,” one more added.
The Australian retailer updated all 177 store layouts by rearranging shelves based on size and age versus gender and size. Stores have grouped sizes 1-7 and 8-16 together, but many parents also say there is no clear distinction between the “boys” and “girls” range.
The decision has baffled parents who say it has made shopping more difficult to find certain items for their children.
Others, however, said they preferred the new designs because their children were not “stereotypical” in their clothing preferences.
‘I love it! As someone who shops in sections of both genders, everything is in one place and much more accessible,” wrote one.
‘It’s great. Girl’s shirts my son wore his whole life, sometimes it’s hard to find specific cats and characters he loves on boys and now he doesn’t need to feel awkward looking at them or double check me. Pink is not a girl’s color like boys in school, tell them that,” said another mother.
Despite the backlash, a Big W spokesperson told FEMAIL that the change was made after listening to customer feedback.
“We have recently changed our navigation signage in some stores to make it easier for families to shop for children’s clothing,” the spokesperson said.
‘Our children’s clothing is still sorted by gender, but we have introduced age groups so that a customer looking for clothing for a child aged 1 to 7 can search in one place.
‘We made this change as a result of customer feedback about their preferred ways of shopping. “We are always listening and learning and continue to welcome feedback.”