Gymboree Play & Music

My 1 year old had a blast at Gymboree during our preview class! I found the teacher to be very excited, energetic, and engaging; great at capturing the attention of her young students (through the use of music, bells, puppets, bubbles, etc.;) and overall felt the class was very age appropriate (a problem I have found with similar gym type classes we have taken.) The equipment they have is a little different than most, and very safe (yet still stimulating and challenging) for wee ones. My son loved climbing up all of the ramps, nets, and ladders to various slides. He also loved the songs, bubbles, clown puppet, strength exercises — really all of it. The class was about 45 minutes in length, with open play at the end of class. I was also very impressed with how clean and well kept this location is (not to mention, they have a sign posted stating all of their cleaning policies, which I believe they execute regularly.)
My only issue, hence missing one star, is the price per month. It’s about $ 80 for once a week, of $ 103 for unlimited classes. It’s on par with their market, and I see it as a valuable option for parents looking to have a regular routine and/​or special time they spend with their child (ren). However, for $ 100 a month, I could have a gym membership with daycare, enroll my son in a mother’s day out program, etc. As a stay at home mom, time away from my son is so slim, that I would rather spend that money to take a little time for myself. What I would be open to is a drop in class at a particular rate (let’s say $ 20-​$ 25 a class.) This way I wouldn’t need to commit to a monthly class, but could still benefit when our schedule allowed.

We hosted my 3 year old’s birthday party here and it was AWESOME!
The manager that handled my booking was professional, friendly, and quickly answered every question I had. They accommodated all of my special requests.
My Gymboree teacher even called the day before my event to confirm all details.
The back room for food was perfect for pizza, cake, and drinks. The teacher somehow helped me set up, organize, and clean up afterwards all while entertaining a dozen kids.
And all the kids LOVED the party and had big smiles the whole time. The teacher had a ton of energy.
I couldn’t be happier with the entire experience and I have high expectations.

What a disappointment. Although Gymboree has a thoroughly corporate feel (think song routine that doubles as a commercial for the Gymboree brand), their response to an issue that arose for me suggests that they are actually pretty lousy at business.
I have just one day off from work a week, limiting my class options. The only age-​appropriate class I am able to attend with my eight-​month-​old falls right around his nap time. While trying to decide whether to sign up, I let staff know about this scheduling dilemma and thoroughly talked through different options. I was told that I could make up missed classes at any time. I signed up for a month, predictably missed a few classes due to naps during that month, and when I returned at the end of the month, I was told that the window for make-​ups had passed; in order to take advantage of the make-​ups I would need to enroll again (read: give them another $ 85). It was only at this point that they let me know about a policy requiring that kids be enrolled to use make-​ups — something that was never mentioned when I registered. The staff member who enrolled me was new and, I imagine, not well versed on their policy. The Manager was unwilling to either allow me to attend the classes I’d paid for or reimburse me for the classes I wasn’t permitted to attend.
Also part of my one star rating: irrationally high prices (over $ 20/​class) for what amounts to a 45 minute, unpersonalized class taught by people who do not seem to have any particular expertise to warrant that price. The staff are college students or young twenty somethings trying to make some extra cash, which in principle is great, but simply doesn’t match the Gymboree price tag. But even if the teachers were especially skilled, half of the class is spent in an open-​play style during which you and your kid simply wander around on their play structures. I can get that for free at any playground. The one upside is that the teacher who taught the few classes I went to, Teddy, was very sweet and energetic.
My negative experience is echoed in many of these Unilocal reviews: bad customer service, an unyielding corporate model that seems mostly focused on profit, high prices, and nothing too special to offer. Thumbs down. I’ll be going somewhere else.

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.
I

The classes themselves were just OK. Our son was often the only child in his «Learn and Play» class… which made the whole thing feel a bit awkward.
But I’m giving one star mostly for the seemingly impossible system they devised for canceling your ongoing membership — and the terrible customer service I received as a result of it. Even though you can sign up for classes and memberships online using your own online account, you cannot cancel your membership online — you have to request a PDF from the local branch, fill it out, scan it, and email it back. Clearly they’re trying to discourage people from canceling. Fine, so we jumped through these hoops and sent in the PDF to cancel. I got an email back from the assistant manager saying that she was processing the cancellation right away.
Fast forward two months when we were finally going through our credit card statements, and we noticed two additional $ 75 monthly charges from Gymboree after our cancellation. It turns out they never actually cancelled the membership — had we not been on top of our credit card statements, we would have gone on being charged indefinitely.
When I reached out to them about the failed cancellation and additional charges, rather than being apologetic and accommodating about THEIR mistake, they hid behind «corporate policy» saying they could only refund one of the post-​cancellation charges because their «hands are tied.» Keep in mind this was all due to their mistake and required a significant amount of extra time and effort on my behalf.
My advice is avoid Gymboree and stick with your local non-​corporate play gyms and parks. Gymboree is clearly all about big business.

Unbelievable! I called 2 weeks ago asking to have a free Open Play with my two kids instead of a free trial class. My kids are two different ages, 1.5 and 4, so trying out a class would have been too difficult with one kid just standing by. The kind woman over the phone obliged.
I came in today for the 3:45pm Open Play. We had planned it for a week and worked our entire day around it. When we arrived, the woman behind the counter on 12÷23÷14 at 3:30pm told us that whomever told us that we were welcome to use our trial for Open Play was «a NEW worker» and «must NOT have known the rules,» and that we were not in fact welcome to attend the Open Play! I explained to her what we’d been told, but she wouldn’t relent!
The place was dead, my kids were sorely disappointed, and I will not ever throw down my hard earned money on two class series here. Terrible and very disappointing customer service. Shame on you, Gymboree!

We love Gymboree and all the wonderful teachers there especially ‘Q’. Liz Lauren and Sophie are amazing. They all remember my granddaughters name when she comes and every time its a fun learning experience. Its newly renovated, bright colorful and ingeniously designed for our little ones.
Shes almost 15 months now and is becoming gently interactive and learning to share and have fun with other babies. She also knows when its time to join the group in beginning and especially closing activities (songs, clapping, etc) which is done pretty much the same way every time, which is a comforting, fun and reliable little thing for a baby to relate to and to and then learn participate with the group. Its almost like pre-​school in that way in terms of socializing and structure which is one one of the many reasons I feel you get a lot of ‘bang for your buck’
I also want to say the owner Kate is very sensitive to the needs of the parents and grandparents (I am a grandparent) and obviously the children and keeps an immaculate, state of the art ‘gym’ that facilitates so many physical and social skills as well as music and art – even for toddlers.
So this Gymboree is a total thumbs up for me and my granddaughter. I’m so glad its there and in walking distance because I can take her there l almost every day because there is always something in their flexible schedule that’s good for us. Good job Kate! And your entire staff. sorry I didn’t name you all (bad with names — didn’t have Gymboree growing up!:)

The instructors are enthusiastic and caring. Shout out to Maggie (the bestest and my first), Bee

My daughter loves this place. Great place to meet new friends and other moms. Perfect location too! Favorite part of any Saturday… Gymboree…Peets…lunch…shopping at Gap!

I really LOVE gymboree. Very spacious setting that is clean and super safe for my baby. She crawls all over, yelling at the top of her little lungs, and no one minds (or at least no one says they mind). We attend both a structured class and open play and while I agree with other reviewers, that it is pricey, I really feel like she gets to wear herself out. She loves the balls and slides, meets new friends, and gets to listen to lots of music. It is also very nice that the classes are broken down by age, so little kids do not get trampled by bigger kids. Free play is all ages, but Tuesday’s tend to be a younger crowd as well. Parking is easy. Come rainy weather, this place will be a perfect retreat. I anticipate we will continue to go to gymboree for a long time!

My 11 month old really enjoyed it and I think it’s a nice, safe, fun environment for him to play with others, be social, have a change of scenery and develop his motor skills further.
In response to other reviews…
(1) it is NOT in the basement of a church! Thanks for the confusion, Unilocalers… it has it’s own storefront on the corner of Mandela and Lakeshore.
(2) Cleanliness. Let’s keep this in perspective. How clean do you think the playgrounds and parks are? Unless you’re wiping down every single thing your kid touches, you’ve got to expect some germs. They’ve got kids coming in/​out all day. I did see them wiping down the toys after the class with baby wipes… however, I don’t expect that the mats/​slides/​climbing structures get much attention. Take that for what it’s worth.
The teacher was fine and kept trying to correal the kids, but good luck getting 10 – 16 month olds to fully participate. She was positive and flexible.
I went for the free class and we’ll likely go back with our GroupOn… not sure it’s worth $ 70/​month though.

The kids love to go there ! They are so sad they are to big now !

We love Abigail (Tues & Sat.) She’s great with the kids and the parents. 5 stars for Abi! The themes vary week to week as do the activities which make it exciting for our little man and keep him interested.
Our major issue with the place is cleanliness. We do see the instructors wiping down the toys in between classes however the gym itself doesn’t seem to get cleaned ie slides, ramps, mats, carpet (vacuumed). At one point our son got sick pretty much every other time we went to gymboree. It doesn’t help when parents bring their sick kids in with runny noses and flemmy coughs. It also gets uncomfortably hot in the gym which seems to create the perfect breeding ground for germs.

So far so great! We’ve been twice to Saturday classes and have had a great teacher/​leader lady – really enthusiastic and equitable to all the kids there. All the parents have been engaged and the kids wear permanent smiles while they are there. Our baby loves to socialize, and this has been an excellent experience.
Yes, it’s a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for. Fun times and in a great location! Easy to get a coffee afterwards and go for a walk around the lake!

I’ve been to other Gymborees that were better but this place wasn’t too bad. My little one seemed to enjoy it enough. I don’t think I’ll go back, but it wasn’t awful.

Great place for a parent and child to grow and learn together. The classes are set up by age group, and involve easy as well as more difficult routines. Lot’s of play also. Just very well run, and the leader we have had is Abigail who does a great job, and is so very good with children.
Lots of ramps, slides, balls, activity centers, and other equipment for your child to use, learn and grow.
They also offer music classes, and other type of activity/​training.
I have taken my granddaughter there for over a year, and am amazed at her growth and capability in motor control and strength. My experience here has been very, very positive.
Highly recommended.

Wow, this Gymboree racket is expensive. My babe and I went to a trial class with some buddies, and I was shocked at how much it would be to join. Seriously, $ 69 per month, more if you want the option of going to multiple locations??? The equipment was fine; pretty much the same stuff as at Ruby’s Tumbling (see previous review). The space is definitely more polished, but who the hell cares? Plus, they insist on involving this creepy clown puppet (named «Gymbo») in many of the activities. You can even buy Gymbo merchandise. Um, yeah, not looking for creepy clown purchases at the moment. We’ll stick with Ruby’s for sure.

I took my boy to Gymboree when he was a baby, and we both got a lot out of it. Me, especially, since I was not the «kid» type and had never heard of the song «Wheels on the Bus.»
So in that way it was very useful and educational for ME, who cares about junior! :-)
So if you are new to this whole «breeding» thing I strongly suggest enrolling in at least one Gymboree class.

We checked out Gymboree Play & Music after it moved within walking distance of our house (note — it has moved from College Ave to 3433 Lakeshore Ave.). My 2-​year old loves it although I’d have to say the instructors have generally been mediocre. It has lots of fun play equipment, balls, and bubbles so I’d say it’s worth it.