The interior of The Nest Schools location in Mechanicsville, which recently opened. (Photo courtesy of The Nest Schools)
New outposts of childcare brands have opened on opposite sides of town.
The Nest Schools has entered the Richmond-area market with a school in Mechanicsville. And at Regency mall in western Henrico, a married couple has opened a new location of The Goddard School.
The Nest Schools opened in early March at 7147 Stonewall Parkway in Mechanicsville. It’s the childcare chain’s first location in the Richmond region, as well as its first in the state.
The Mechanicsville school provides early childhood education programs for kids ages 6 weeks to 12 years in a 14,000-square-foot building that was formerly home to All Aboard Child Development Center. The Nest Schools purchased the property last year.
Nest spent about $1.1 million on the buildout of the school, which features an outdoor classroom. The school also allows parents to keep an eye on their kids while at the school using an app that provides real-time updates and pictures, per a company news release.
The Mechanicsville school had more than 60 enrolled children as of mid-March and has capacity for 188 children, according to spokeswoman Brittany Madonna. She declined to share tuition rates. The school has 21 staff members and three administrators.
The Mechanicsville school had originally planned to open in November but was delayed until March in part because it needed the time to staff up.
“With the significant interest we had from families wanting to enroll their children, we also had a lot of staff to hire before opening,” Madonna said in an email.
Madonna said Nest doesn’t have active plans for additional locations in the region but is keeping its options open.
“We always seek opportunities to expand our footprint within each region and state where we have schools. We are not working on any additional schools in the area at the moment, but we welcome conversations with anyone looking to retire, sell, change careers, or join us,” she said.
Florida-based Nest currently has a little under 40 schools in six states.
Goddard School in Regency
The Goddard School at 50 Nova Way at Regency in Henrico County (Jack Jacobs photo)
Meanwhile in Henrico, The Goddard School has expanded its local presence with a new location at Regency mall.
Married couple and franchisees Brandon and Kendra Hudson opened the new Goddard School last week. The school occupies a 12,000-square-foot space on Regency’s second level formerly occupied by New York & Co and across from the former JCPenney. The school has its own exterior entry at the address 50 Nova Way.
Goddard offers early education programming for kids ranging from infants to school-aged. The Regency school, with around 90 children, is about halfway to its enrollment cap. It plans to have a total capacity of about 180 kids.
Similar to their competitor in Mechanicsville, the Hudsons said there’s been strong interest from parents.
“A lot of people wanted to see the building first but also in our younger classrooms like the infants, we have a waiting list until March of next year,” Brandon said. “We have parents who just found out they were pregnant and they called us before they called the doctor. It shows the need for good childcare in the Richmond area.”
The Hudsons declined to share tuition rates. The school had 12 teachers last week and expected another four instructors to start work this week.
The Goddard at Regency is the Hudsons’ first location of the concept. Kendra handles day-to-day operations with support from Brandon, who also owns multiple local outposts of Marco’s Pizza. In 2020 the couple sold their mental health provider Simple Intervention, where Brandon had previously been executive director.
Goddard is based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It has more than more 600 franchised locations in 37 states and D.C. There are nine other Goddard locations in the greater Richmond region, each run by different franchisees, per Goddard’s website.
The interior of The Nest Schools location in Mechanicsville, which recently opened. (Photo courtesy of The Nest Schools)
New outposts of childcare brands have opened on opposite sides of town.
The Nest Schools has entered the Richmond-area market with a school in Mechanicsville. And at Regency mall in western Henrico, a married couple has opened a new location of The Goddard School.
The Nest Schools opened in early March at 7147 Stonewall Parkway in Mechanicsville. It’s the childcare chain’s first location in the Richmond region, as well as its first in the state.
The Mechanicsville school provides early childhood education programs for kids ages 6 weeks to 12 years in a 14,000-square-foot building that was formerly home to All Aboard Child Development Center. The Nest Schools purchased the property last year.
Nest spent about $1.1 million on the buildout of the school, which features an outdoor classroom. The school also allows parents to keep an eye on their kids while at the school using an app that provides real-time updates and pictures, per a company news release.
The Mechanicsville school had more than 60 enrolled children as of mid-March and has capacity for 188 children, according to spokeswoman Brittany Madonna. She declined to share tuition rates. The school has 21 staff members and three administrators.
The Mechanicsville school had originally planned to open in November but was delayed until March in part because it needed the time to staff up.
“With the significant interest we had from families wanting to enroll their children, we also had a lot of staff to hire before opening,” Madonna said in an email.
Madonna said Nest doesn’t have active plans for additional locations in the region but is keeping its options open.
“We always seek opportunities to expand our footprint within each region and state where we have schools. We are not working on any additional schools in the area at the moment, but we welcome conversations with anyone looking to retire, sell, change careers, or join us,” she said.
Florida-based Nest currently has a little under 40 schools in six states.
Goddard School in Regency
The Goddard School at 50 Nova Way at Regency in Henrico County (Jack Jacobs photo)
Meanwhile in Henrico, The Goddard School has expanded its local presence with a new location at Regency mall.
Married couple and franchisees Brandon and Kendra Hudson opened the new Goddard School last week. The school occupies a 12,000-square-foot space on Regency’s second level formerly occupied by New York & Co and across from the former JCPenney. The school has its own exterior entry at the address 50 Nova Way.
Goddard offers early education programming for kids ranging from infants to school-aged. The Regency school, with around 90 children, is about halfway to its enrollment cap. It plans to have a total capacity of about 180 kids.
Similar to their competitor in Mechanicsville, the Hudsons said there’s been strong interest from parents.
“A lot of people wanted to see the building first but also in our younger classrooms like the infants, we have a waiting list until March of next year,” Brandon said. “We have parents who just found out they were pregnant and they called us before they called the doctor. It shows the need for good childcare in the Richmond area.”
The Hudsons declined to share tuition rates. The school had 12 teachers last week and expected another four instructors to start work this week.
The Goddard at Regency is the Hudsons’ first location of the concept. Kendra handles day-to-day operations with support from Brandon, who also owns multiple local outposts of Marco’s Pizza. In 2020 the couple sold their mental health provider Simple Intervention, where Brandon had previously been executive director.
Goddard is based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It has more than more 600 franchised locations in 37 states and D.C. There are nine other Goddard locations in the greater Richmond region, each run by different franchisees, per Goddard’s website.