Gymboree Play & Music Center

I took my 10 month old daughter here and she loved it! Our instructor, Miss Emma is awesome! You can tell she really cares and loves her job. There are so many things for the babies to learn, it’s just amazing. Would Def recommend it to friends!

We had a membership there until my daughter turned 3 years old. Today she asked me if we can go to that gym again. She really wanted to play there and it was open gym time. So I asked them if I can pay for 1 time visit and they said no it’s our policy you have to be enrolled. I asked them if I can purchase any price toy so we can play there for 30 minutes she said: No!Im sorry! My daughter was crying all the way home. Bad service!! She didn’t even try to be nice…

My nephew had his 1^st year birthday party here. I think it was a nice idea, no need to decorate and host at your house or clean up after and it’s all focused on the kids. Plenty of safe playing space for little ones, a facilitator to sing some songs and lead some activities, a separate room for present and cake, and goodie bags. Seems like something to consider for a party of youngsters!

I take my 18 month old daughter to classes at this location and I’ve been very happy so far (it’s been three months)
I love the instructors (we had a sub once or twice) and the play area offers something for every child.
Most of the other moms have a severe case of RBF but if you can look past that and focus on your child’s enjoyment it’s not too bad. Just don’t expect to make friends unless you, too, have RBF.
On that note, most of the kids are well behaved and only some are little ishes.
I definitely think it is worth the price because they also offer open gym times so you can go more than once per week.
Staff are pleasant and the place is a clean, safe environment for my little one to play in. I’m a happy mom.

I am writing because I recently went into Gymboree to cancel my membership. The associate recommended that I put my account on hold so I could use some of my make up classes (I had 12, which was why I wanted to cancel in the first place. I just was not able to fit the classes into my busy schedule at this time). The woman told me she would cancel my account after the month hold, and that I wouldn’t be able to use any make up classes after the cancellation (so use as many as we could during the holding period). I agreed to do this, and was assured by her that my membership would be cancelled the following month. We still only ended up using a couple of them unfortunately. I remember it was very busy as a class was about to begin that day, but the associate told me she would put everything in the computer. She was actually very nice, and was offering this to me because we had so many unused classes. I thought, ‘how nice of her to give us an opportunity to use missed classes!‘
When I got charged for the following month, I called the office right away. Bianca (the manager?) informed me that I would need to come in person to cancel (I already did that!), and that she had no record of my attempt to cancel (not my problem). She also said she wanted to ‘investigate the matter more’ and continued to call and email me with a bunch of ridiculous questions. Bianca never once apologized for this huge inconvenience. Regardless, I am a very busy full time working mom, and don’t have time to «investigate» how her team did not properly take care of a customer. If they misplaced forms, did not enter things correctly, and/​or told the customer they would do something that they did not, then it is their responsibility to fix it in a timely manner. This has been a time consuming issue, and shows that this location is actually more interested in trying to ‘trap’ customers into membership fees THAT THEY WILL NOT USE, instead of just making them happy, encouraging positive word of mouth, and opening the door to joining more classes when their schedule is more open.
Additionally, it goes without saying that it is beyond disappointing when a customer comes in (in person I might add) to cancel their account, and actually ends up getting finangled into being charged for yet another month they will not use! Anyone who has any sense of making customer service a priority, knows what the right thing to do in this situation is.
I will be posting this review on ALL Gymboree sites in the bay area so that everyone knows how Gymboree handles cancellations. I definitely feel obligated to inform others.
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I had a birthday party for my 3 year old and discovered that new owners has expanded the space! Birthday kid and friends had a blast! The expansion was certainly a nice surprise since I haven’t attended classes for over a year (previous owners). I have another child that will definitely enroll in the 16 – 22 month class — however, this is the where is gets tricky — time slot seems to coincide with nap time.
New ownership has done wonderful things for this place!

I cannot say enough positive things about the Lafayette Gymboree location. The staff has always been so kind and warm to my eight month old son Garrett. That being said I have observed them being accommodating to all children, no matter what age or ability.
Staff members like Gloria are the reason my son light up when he approaches the window!
I highly recommend this location to mothers who want to give their children some play time.

I was a customer for over two years at this location and the new owner I interacted with was extremely rude. I am a Lafayette native and based on the business and communication skills and also the hostile nature of the new owner you can tell she’s not from this area. I brought my daughter in and the owner was not only rude to me but also to my child. Extremely disappointed and I recommend people to try another location.

I can’t say anything about membership since I met my friend and her little one here. But I know they have different levels for different ages. The two year old class was a lot of fun. The parents and kids were all great.
Location: it’s in a tiny shopping strip, the block right of Whole Foods. There is Patelco Bank, Lafayette Tailors, and Gymboree is on the very right, slightly tucked away. Parking can be bad so circle the parking lot a few times.
It’s a cute and colorful place. I had no idea this Gymboree from the same origin as the store Gymboree. Haha :) so they have some retail items like Jimbo the Clown, shaker toys, some bags, etc.
First you take off your shoes. They have a sanitizer machine (which I used a lot). The place is cute and colorful. Sort of like a dream daycare or luxe playroom.
Toys I liked: little wooden boat, two bridges, mini slide area, big parachute.
The class: I got there a little late, but I assume the parents/​adults sit in a circle and sing a welcome song and quickly discuss the class activities.
Then, the kids went «fishing» with little nets and plastic ducks. Of course, their attention span is short. So then they ran around freely and explored for a bit. Then everyone went back to the mat. The class leader, Jared, then placed inner– tubes under the corners of the mat to make it a mini-​derby. He played music, the kids ran in a circle and had to freeze when the music stopped playing. Everyone had maracas and everyone sang little songs. We cleaned up. Jared brought out the parachute. He blew bubbles for the kids for a few minutes. The parents lifted it up and brought it down as the kids played underneath. Then the parents went under the mat with the kids. It got stuffy quickly. After that, Jimbo the Clown came out and gave each of the kids a hug followed by another song. That’s mostly what happened lol.
We were done, put on our shoes and sanitizer and went to Whole foods!

It’s ok the staff is nice but be aware that if you plan on canceling do it 10 days or more before your bill date otherwise you will be charged the full amount. I wish I would have read the fine print as they say. I cancelled after and lost out on my $ 100.00 despite the fact that I haven’t gone or plan on going.
In the future I would stick to different types of classes given in the community as Gymboree gets redundant and boring after a couple of months.

I’m giving this place two stars because the poor quality really stems from the franchise owner and the Gymboree Corporation for their lack of support to franchisees. My husband and I were really excited to have our daughter join Gymboree despite the negative reviews on Unilocal because we wanted to make up our own minds about the program. We began from the summer of 2013 to about September 2013 in about 3.5 months we were enrolled it was nothing but disappointment. Primarily Inconsistent teachers, a different teacher almost every visit, the newest hire was lackluster and was not familiar with the curriculum by her third week, the final straw was NO notification that the location would be closed due to «illness» (said a sign from the day before our class was scheduled).
I called the owner several times, contacted Gymboree Corporate (to no avail), finally a response from the owner several days later stating she was out of town and this event was uncontrollable. If you are a business owner with multiple franchises you need to plan better, things go wrong and you need to ensure your customers are delivered the service they are paying for, particularly when dealing with children. The owner did refund us for the month and comped the other parents for the lock out days, but it was a nightmare trying to get through someone. Now that we are enrolled with a different children’s activity program I see a huge difference in he curriculum, we found one that best suits our child’s development. I do have to give positive reviews to the initial teachers we had who genuinely cared about the kids and were very energetic and fun, the equipment is also quite clean, and so are the bathrooms.

My one-​year old loved the Gymboree! They had different types of balls, play mats, tumbling blocks. The parachute and puppet doll in the end was fun but it may have freaked out some of the other babies. The place is great but a bit pricey. They acutally expect you to get a monthly membership. It would be great if they offered day passes.

My daughter and I love Gymboree. The classes focus on sensory development for all the senses, and movement that is age appropriate. The teachers are warm, caring and very knowledgable. It is great socialization for the babies, too. I love that I learn little songs and activities that I can do with my daughter at home. I would highly recommend it!

Had a great time with my son here today! Judy was a great teacher, the space is nice and CLEAN. We decided to sign up and plan to come here as much as possible.

As a mother of twins, I found it so hard to find places where I could take my girls all by myself that were fun yet safe for them. My girls started Gymboree classes at 3 months old and still attend them now that they are 3 years old. Gymboree offers a large space with age-​appropriate activities where babies and toddlers can crawl, walk, run and dance. They also offer art and music-​specific classes which are fun too. While I’d say they might be «aging out» of the Gymboree program at 3, I will say that there are still offerings that they love and they still look forward to going.
Gymboree has been a life-​saver for me and a tremendous plus for my girls as it helped them build social and physical skills at a very early age. Also, we have had great luck with the staff that we’ve worked with and have even lucked out using one of the teachers as a babysitter now and then.

One of the staff members was incredibly rude to my wife. The incident was brought to the attention of the owners, who acknowledged that the staff member was out of line, but were unwilling to do anything for us except suggest that we not go to classes held by this staff member. As we had paid for an unlimited pass and this staff member was present most of the week, this was hardly a helpful suggestion. Owners refused to prorate us so we could go our separate ways, because it was «against the store’s policy». Nevermind the fact that Gymboree is a franchise, and the «store policy» is basically whatever the owner wants it to be.
Do not patronize this establishment as it is obvious that the owners care more about pocketing a few extra $s, then doing the right thing for a loyal customer that was wronged by staff.

Gymboree is a great place for babies and little ones to do some fun physical activities.
I really enjoy the Level 2 classes (ages 6 – 10 months) with my son. We sing songs, the babies interact with one another, use the equipment in developmentally appropriate ways, and our favorites: parachute and bubble time! (Why do I, in my 30s, find the parachute and bubbles as fun and fascinating as the babies? I don’t know, but when the teacher asks us if we’re ready for the bubbles, inside me, I’m screaming «YESSS! I’m ready! Bring on the bubbles!»
The teachers are really enthusiastic and fun and I also always meet nice parents in these classes. I usually learn something at each class about a new activity I can do with my son, whether it’s a physical activity, a lap ride, or a song I’ve never heard before.
I can’t wait for my son to become mobile because I think it’ll open up a whole new world for him at Gymboree.