Our physical store in Thousand Oaks, CA is now open and ready for play!
We offer the best in-person and online classes for kids ages 0-5!
About J&S Toddler Development
James & Susan Nagy
We are James and Susan Nagy. If you had told us in early 2018 that we would soon be the owners of Gymboree Play & Music Thousand Oaks, we would have laughed. Susan is a Clinical Pharmacist, has a full-time day job, and runs a pharmacy consulting business. James worked for many years as an executive and now owns a Strategic Business Consulting Firm and a Website Design, Development, and Digital Marketing Business. We were working worlds away from anything concerning bubbles, tumbling, singing, or finger-painting. What was our gateway into the world of Gymboree Play & Music? At the time it was our twins, Alex and Ben.
At the age of nine months, we began bringing the twins into Gymboree. Ben was a delayed crawler, and we started bringing them in to boost Ben’s skills and the interaction for both of them. What we found there was an amazing and unique place for both of our kids to flourish. Ben began crawling – they both started walking, and each took their first steps at Gymboree. Alex loved the teachers, the classes, and the chance to kick off her dare-devil skills (which she continues today). They both blossomed.
Decision made: We purchased the store in May 2018 and have made it our own since then. We have made some substantial changes to the business since we took over, some things were good, and we’ve kept them; some things needed more work, and we adjusted accordingly. We’ve continued to focus on those three key areas of management, customer service, and marketing while keeping in mind our experiences as Gymboree parents and members. So far, we’ve increased the staff from six teachers to over a dozen. We’ve added numerous new classes to the schedule, including an all-new preschool program. We’ve purchased new products and supplies, painted and repaired the gym. We’ve jumped in and created an all-new marketing campaign that has reintroduced us to the community. We have a great management team to handle all the day-to-day management functions. We listen to our members and work to create a place for families that meet their needs.
Although a surprising decision, it’s been a great one for our family.
We hope that you’ll come in, say hi, and check out your neighborhood Gymboree!
COVID-19 Update: In March 2020, Covid hit our community and our store hard. We had to close the doors to our in-person classes. We tried to take our program online with on-demand classes and live virtual classes, but the demand wasn’t there, so in late fall 2020, we paused everything and waited, like everyone, to see what would happen next.
We re-opened our store in July 2021 and have been slowly growing members again. Finding teachers has been challenging, and convincing parents to come back to class has been arduous. We hope to continue the journey with your help in our community.
If you know anyone that should be attending classes, please send them to our website. Gymboree.TO.
If you know of anyone that would make a great teacher, please have them fill out a job application. Gymboree.TO/Jobs.
We appreciate every referral, recommendation, and support given to our local early childhood education facility.
