How Stressed-Out Parents Are Creating Huge New Opportunities for Franchisors
It’s a weekday morning and Howard Mierau’s 2-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter is paddling in a heated pool at the Goldfish Swim School franchise in Needham, Mass. The blond-haired, blue-eyed toddler, clad in a baby-blue swimsuit, spends two or more mornings a week here learning water safety and swimming techniques, while her grandfather watches from the tiki-themed viewing area. And when they’re not at Goldfish, they’re at another franchise, Gymboree Play & Music.
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This all looks quite different from when Mierau raised his own daughter decades ago. Back then, his wife stayed home while he worked as a computer . But that daughter grew up, got married and had a child of her own -- and because she and her husband work full-time and wanted to make sure their daughter is fully occupied and looked after, Mierau began commuting from his home
