Gymboree back in business

Four of five area Gymboree Play & Music locations were back in business today as corporate officials from San Francisco took over the failed franchise and assured parents that "Gymboree is here to stay."

Gymboree Play & Music vice president Jill Johnston said representatives flew into town Thursday night and have been working with employees to ensure that there are no further disruptions. The corporate office is in bankruptcy court trying to take over the franchises, which were owned by Tot Bot Inc. Tot Bot's owners, Dale and Denise Darr, owe 23 creditors, including the Internal Revenue Service, a total of about $1.9-million, a March bankruptcy filing states.

They shut their doors the week before last, leaving parents stranded, some out hundreds of dollars in prepaid memberships.

Johnston, who planned to visit the North Tampa, South Tampa, Lutz and Countryside locations today, said from the Lutz Gymboree that the Bradenton location is the only one not currently reopened.

"We've been moved by the response of the customers," she said.

At the North Tampa Gymboree, happy mothers and grandmothers celebrated the reopening with smiles.

Qu Casey said she told her 4-year-old son Daniel last week that Gymboree was closed for cleaning.
"The kids really love the programs," Casey said. "I'm so glad I didn't have to keep explaining to him each week why we weren't going."

Dong-Phuong Nguyen, Times Staff Writer

[Photo: Melissa Lyttle, Times files]

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