Maya Tucker searched high and low for maternity clothes in Bermuda, when she was expecting her first baby.

The police officer, found that many of the larger retail stores in Bermuda had stopped selling maternity clothes. The clothes that she could find on the island did not suit her.

“Everything was either too big or too mature for my taste,” Ms Tucker said. “My style is more laid back.”

She was on light duties at her job, but still needed to look smart.

“I was looking for a solid colour pair of pants and a top, whether it be a plain top or something with a little ruffle or floral print,” she said. “I was having a hard time finding that here, so I ended up, like everyone else, ordering online and getting what I wanted that way. I thought there is not really much to choose from here.”

Seeing an opportunity, she set up an online business, Mommy’s Closet, last year, selling clothes for pregnant and nursing mothers.

"I thought I would bring some clothes in and see how things went,“ she said.

She wanted to offer an inexpensive option for local women.

“I have seen leggings for sale here for $60,” she said. “That is outrageous. Who can afford that? I want my products to be cost friendly for anyone to just purchase. I want to keep the prices low and not put a high mark-up. I want people to afford it so they are comfortable purchasing.”

She has work pants ranging from $40 to $45, dresses that are $50 and shirts that are $30 to $35. Her current stock is from Motherhood Maternity, one of her favourite stores when she was pregnant.

“I like the quality of their stuff,” she said. “I do have summer shirts and summer dresses, short sleeve and mid length and then jeans.”

The pants have an elastic belly band at the waist to accommodate a growing tummy.

“It is not digging into your waist,” she said. “It is extremely comfortable.”

Ms Tucker said the pants and jeans can be worn even after the baby comes.

“They are good if you have had a C-section,” she said. “I had a natural birth and I still wore my jeans post-partum, because they were so comfortable”.

Eventually, she would like to bring in nursing tops, dresses and bras.

Her daughter, Xara, is now ten months old. Sometimes it has been a challenge balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship.

“My daughter occupies most of my time,” Ms Tucker said. “When I do have orders coming in, I reach out to people and get the orders fulfilled as soon as I can.”

Ms Tucker said sometimes she is tired and wants to sleep, but has to stay up and do things that need to be done.

“Because she is nursed, sometimes I need to pump when she is asleep,” Ms Tucker said.

Mommy’s Closet has not yet taken off the way she would like it to, but she is learning.

“I use (commerce platform) Shopify which tells me how many people visit the webpage and what they are looking at,” she said. “That is useful. I could see that people were visiting the page, but not many were purchasing from the page.”

She is now working to improve her social media game and increase her visibility.

Looking around at her retail competitors, she said the island’s online offerings sometimes leave something to be desired.

“Some online stores in Bermuda don’t keep up with their stock taking,” she said. “So you try to order something and it is out of stock. And then not everyone offers online sales. I feel like we have some catching up to do, but we will get there. I think Covid-19 has really pushed it a lot.”

Ms Tucker will deliver purchases to Mommy’s Closet clients.

“I live in the east, but I can meet people in town,” she said.

For more information see her website mommysclosetbda.com, Facebook @Mommysclosetbda, call 504-2018, or e-mail mommysclosetbda@yahoo.com.