Say Goodbye to Gymboree

Children's clothing retailer is winding down operations after 4 decades
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 17, 2019 8:03 AM CST
Say Goodbye to Gymboree
In this file photo, a woman buys children's clothing at the Gymboree store at the Westside Pavilion Shopping Center in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

Gymboree has filed for bankruptcy protection for a second time in as many years, but this time the children's clothing retailer will begin winding down operations for good. The San Francisco company said it will close all of its Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores and attempt to sell its Janie and Jack business, intellectual property, and online business, per the AP. Gymboree, which began offering classes for mothers and their children in 1976, runs 380 Gymboree stores in the US and Canada. When it first sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2017, it ran 1,300 stores.

The company has suffered in the post-recession years like almost all mall-based retail stores. Steep declines in mall traffic and the shift online have devastated many traditional retailers. This week, for example, 132-year-old department-store chain Sears averted liquidation when billionaire Eddie Lampert won tentative approval for a $5 billion plan to keep it in business. Gymboree was bought by the private equity firm Bain Capital for $1.8 billion in 2010 and taken private.

(More bankruptcy stories.)

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