FORMERLY PE OWNED
Gymboree
Includes Gymboree Group, Crazy 8
children's clothing · San Francisco, CA
- PE Firm
- Bain Capital →
- Year Acquired
- 2010
Bain loaded it with $1.2 billion in debt; two bankruptcies and 19 months later, 900 stores selling kids' clothes were gone.
What Happened
- Bain Capital bought Gymboree in 2010 for $1.8 billion — two-thirds of it was debt loaded directly onto the company, leaving Gymboree with $1.2 billion to service
- First bankruptcy in June 2017 closed 330 stores and wiped out $900 million in debt — but the damage was already done
- Second bankruptcy in January 2019, less than 16 months later — this time with full liquidation of all remaining Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores
- The Children's Place bought the Gymboree brand name for $76 million — but not the stores, not the inventory, not the jobs
The Damage Done
- All 900+ Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores liquidated — parents lost an affordable children's clothing option that had been around for decades
- Gift cards became worthless overnight in both bankruptcies — customers who'd bought them as presents for kids were out of luck
- Janie and Jack, the upscale sister brand, was sold to Gap — severed from the company Bain had bought as a package
- Thousands of retail workers — many of them part-time parents working flexible hours — lost their jobs with minimal notice
Sources
- Payless, Gymboree and the road to Chapter 22 — Retail Dive(2019-02-22)
- Gymboree's second bankruptcy filing will kill the brand — CNN Business(2019-01-17)
- Gymboree To File For Bankruptcy Again, Liquidate All Remaining Stores — Bisnow(2019-01-16)
- Why Did The Children's Place Buy Bankrupt Gymboree? - Nasdaq(2019-04-25)
- Why Did Gymboree Go Bankrupt? - Edspira(2020-08-02)
- Gymboree becomes latest retailer to attempt brick-and-mortar comeback - CoStar(2024-11-21)