11/10/2017
Thank you for helping make Hippo Campus a wonderful, joyful place. It breaks our hearts to have to say good bye. Please read the two personal notes below from Maureen and Greg.
From Maureen:
Dear Hippo Friends:
It is with great sadness that I must announce the closing of Hippo Campus. Unfortunately, we are unable to keep up with the financial demands of our space without raising our prices substantially.
It was always part of our mission to offer families a safe, fun, and affordable play space that welcomed children of all abilities. The “affordable” part was always tricky for us. We made personal sacrifices where we could, but we cannot sustain what we offer in this space any longer.
We are not certain what the future holds right now. We need time to regroup. For that reason, we strongly urge you to use any unused punches on your punch cards before December 15. We will accept them at any future Hippo Campus location, but we honestly don’t know where, when (or sadly if) that will be.
Your families have brought us great joy, and we are so pleased that we could bring joy into your lives as well.
We hope you will come see us to play, reminisce, and dream about the future before December 15. We have a lot of fun activities planned for our final weeks. We hope to see you soon!
--Maureen
From Greg:
When my sister, Maureen, came to me with the idea for Hippo Campus, I was immediately excited and 100% on board to follow her dream to make Hippo Campus a special place for creative, imaginative sensory play for children of all ages and abilities. From the early stages of planning our play space, to shopping for all of the toys, books, blocks, instruments, art supplies and gadgets, to setting up the rooms and preparing to open, it was one of the most exciting and enjoyable times of my life. But nothing could prepare me for the joy and satisfaction that came once we opened Hippo Campus and Maureen’s dream was a reality. A reality not only for my sister and me, but for over 12,000 individual children who have visited us in the 2+ years we have been here for open play, field trips, birthday parties, camps, fundraisers and special events.
Before we ever even opened our doors for the first time, I told Maureen, “If we last six months or six years, this is going to be an amazing time.” That turned out to be the biggest understatement ever! While I would have loved to have made it to six years and even beyond, I have absolutely no complaints, regrets or disappointment. Believe me, I’m heartbroken that we are coming to the end of this beautiful dream,but I am comforted by the lifetime of memories that we have created here and that I have had the privilege of experiencing and being a part of all through this time. We have met and gotten to know not only the most amazing and beautiful children, but also the most wonderful group of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nannies, therapists and teachers imaginable. While our time is coming to an end much sooner than we would have liked, I consider the dream of Hippo Campus to be a success in every measurable way besides profit margin. Maureen and I are clearly not “business people,” but that’s ok. I wouldn’t have traded the experiences and memories we created here for anything in the world.
So, what this long-winded composition basically comes down to is this: THANK YOU all so very much for sharing this dream with us. I hope when you remember Hippo Campus you remember the love and care that Maureen, our staff and I put into making it a special place for you to share with your children. We really gave it all we had, from the way we set up the rooms every morning to the way we painstakingly cleaned and disinfected every inch of the facility after closing each day. I was fortunate enough to witness some of the most beautiful moments and interactions while we were here. I saw first steps, first words, first playdates. I saw kids play here as babies who are now 3 years old, and the growth and development (physical, social, emotional) of our loyal customers’ children while interacting here. I never took that for granted and I consider myself blessed to have been part of this remarkable time.
I have too many people to thank personally, so I just want to thank Maureen for including all of us in her dream. It was a beautiful dream, and the memories created here are forever. When you and your kids look back on your time here, I hope you remember the love and care that we put into making Hippo Campus a special place. We genuinely cared about your kids and their creativity, security, and development. We still do! :)
Until we meet again, thank you all sincerely for everything,
Greg
