Another 900+ Stores May Close (and It’s Not Sears)

We’ve been here before with Gymboree Group, but this time, it may just be the end of the road. Reports have surfaced that the retailer will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as this week (its second filing in less than two years) and that liquidation of all of its stores could be in the offing.

Of the three brands operated by the company, Gymboree accounts for approximately 530 stores, Crazy 8 counts another 260 locations and Janie and Jack has about 140 stores, according to Chain Store Guide’s Apparel Specialty Stores Database. In conjunction with its 2017 bankruptcy filing, Gymboree Corp. closed about 350 total stores to get to the less than 1,000 stores it has today.

Of its three brands, the one that is most likely to survive is Janie and Jack. The higher end line offers a nice point of differentiation from the other brands and could draw interest in potential buyers. Such a sale could see a buyer attempt to retain the brick and mortar presence.

So how did we get here? The beginning of the end began in 2010 with Bain Capital’s leveraged private equity buyout of the company that created a pile of debt that the company was unable to clear before its first bankruptcy in 2017.

With Chain Store Guide’s Apparel Specialty Store database, you can access 4,500 apparel retailers and more than 28,000 personnel contacts. In addition, CSG researchers and editors update the database daily, ensuring our clients and customers have access to real-time company information when reorganization, restructuring and closings occur.