New reports indicate that children’s clothing retailer Gymboree Group Inc. is expected to file for bankruptcy protection and make plans to close all of its remaining stores as early as this week.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco-based company will file for bankruptcy for the second time in two years and liquidate its Gymboree, Crazy 8 and Janie and Jack stores.
Gymboree has about 900 stores in the U.S. and Canada including its Gymboree, Janie and Jack, and Crazy 8 locations, according to the company’s website.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Janie and Jack stores, of which the company operates 139 nationwide, could be saved if the company can find a buyer for the brand.
Last month, Gymboree announced it had begun a “comprehensive review of strategic options,” the end result of which could be a sale “at the brand level,” the company said.
Gymboree first filed for bankruptcy in summer 2017, leading to the closure of about 350 of its 1,281 locations — most of them Gymboree stores. At the time, the company employed more than 11,000 people, including 10,500 hourly workers.
Gymboree was founded in the 1970s as a company that offered music and activity classes for toddlers and parents. It would go on to launch a chain of children’s clothing stores in the 1980s.
Original report by Justin L. Mack for the IndyStar. Read more at USA Today.
