The Children’s Place was founded by Harvard business school graduates David Pulver and Clinton Clark when they opened their first store in 1965 in Hartford, Connecticut. The store lost money for three years before the two founders had adjusted the product mix and their finances began to turn around.
By 1981 the chain had 65 stores and enjoyed a corner on the niche market of a children’s only department store.
The company was sold to Federated Department Stores in 1982. Under new management, the chain continued to grow and in 1988 The Children’s Place had 161 stores. However, the chain was losing money and was sold to an investor group led by the Dabah family.
In the 1990s the company was restructured to handle its debt. The Children’s Place went public in 1997, raising $50 million to pay off its debts.
In March 2018, Forbes wrote an article stating that, unlike Toys R Us, the company is doing well and meeting or exceeding financial expectations.
In late October 2020, the company secured an $80 million term loan agreement.
Today The Children’s Place has 965 stores in the United States and a further 130 in Canada. The company has over 4,000 employees and had $1.938 billion in revenue in 2018.
