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C+CT

Gymboree files for Chap. 11, closing stores

January 17, 2019

Children’s retailer Gymboree has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will close its roughly 800 Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores, the company announced Wednesday.

This marks the second time in nearly two years that the San Francisco–based retailer has filed for Chapter 11. Gymboree says it will seek a buyer for its Janie and Jack business, its intellectual property and its online platform.

"The company has worked diligently in recent months to explore options for Gymboree Group and its brands, and we are saddened and highly disappointed that we must move ahead with a wind-down of the Gymboree and Crazy 8 businesses,” said Shaz Kahng, who was named Gymboree Group CEO in November, in a prepared statement. “At the same time, we are focused on using this process to preserve the Janie and Jack business — a strong brand that is poised to grow — by pursuing a sale of the business as a going concern.”

Gymboree’s Canadian division will also seek bankruptcy protection.

The retailer operates 540 Gymboree stores across the U.S. and Canada, 265 Crazy 8 stores in the U.S., and 139 Janie and Jack stores.

To support its operations during the process, Gymboree Group says it will get debtor-in-possession financing — consisting of some $30 million in new money loans from SSIG and Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Holdings, plus a "roll-up" of all Gymboree obligations under the pre-petition term-loan credit agreement worth at least $89 million.

By Edmund Mander

Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT