Private company

Gymboree

Gymboree is a sub brand of The Children's Place.1

Last updated Oct 18, 2026.

Overview

1976Founded1

Gymboree is a sub brand of The Children's Place. Gymboree began with operating retail stores between the early 1970s and the later 2010s. It was founded by Joan Barnes.2

How it started

Early years

In 1986, the company opened a chain of clothing stores named Gymboree. Gymboree stores offered coordinating children's clothing. The sizes ranged from newborn to size ten. As of January 2019, it operated 380 Gymboree stores, 154 Gymboree outlets, 147 Janie & Jack stores, 253 Crazy 8 stores, and 11 Crazy 8 outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

Crazy 8 was started in August 2007. It featured lower-priced clothing and was Gymboree's direct competitor for The Children's Place and Old Navy.

In 2010, Bain Capital acquired the company for US$1.8 billion.

Bankruptcy and liquidation

In June 2017, Gymboree announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In September 2017, the company emerged from bankruptcy.

From Wikipedia’s article on Gymboree, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Timeline

  1. 1976Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2