Inspiring Conversations with Michelle Richards of Giggles Drop-in childcare

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Richards

Hi Michelle, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up with a love of the outdoors. I first taught environmental education and then began to teach science in high school. I was a teacher for a short while and when my first son was born, I didn’t want to go back to teaching because I knew I would miss most of his day. I worked part time in a restaurant for his first year and then my husband Zach and I got the idea to start a childcare center where he could come to work with me. We learned of the concept of drop-in childcare and thought it was a fantastic idea for busy parents. So we started Giggles in 2008 in Wilmington, NC. We did pretty well and after five years we outgrew our first space.

Also at the same time one of our loyal customers approached us about franchising our business. They said that they wanted to own and operate a Giggles center. The second Giggles location opened in Cary in 2013 only a few months after the Wilmington center moved into a new and bigger location.

Next one of the managers of the Giggles in Wilmington decided she wanted to open her own center and we started on the Giggles in Jacksonville, NC. Around the same time the owners of the Cary location decided to open a second center in Raleigh, NC. In 2017 both of these locations opened. Next came the Greenville, SC location in which also opened in 2017 followed by a second Greenville, SC location in 2018.

After that we had another franchisee open a Giggles center in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte in December of 2019. Followed shortly afterwards by a location in Fort Mill, SC. Needless to say, covid hit in the beginning of 2020. The newest centers were hit very hard because they had only been open a short time. by the end of 2020 one of the locations in Greenville as well as the Charlotte and Fort Mill locations were closed or in the process of closing. In 2019 all the locations besides the Wilmington locations were owned by franchisees and my husband and I were offering support as the franchise company. In 2019 the owner of the Greenville, SC locations approached us to buy these locations. We did purchase one of the two locations in February of 2020 right before the pandemic hit.

It has been a bit of an uphill battle but we do still own and operate the Greenville, SC location which is about a 5 hour drive from our home in Wilmington. In 2024 the owners of the Cary and Raleigh locations approached us about purchasing the locations there. In August of last year we did purchase those locations and now own and operate 4 of the 5 remaining Giggles Drop-in Childcare centers. The fantastic part about this is that the director of the Cary and Raleigh locations has been with us since 2013 as well as another director that has been with us for over 10 years. They are a fantastic team and have helped make this transition a smooth one.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have definitely been lots of struggles, the biggest one by far was the Covid pandemic. It was really hard to watch a few of the newer centers close because of circumstances completely out of our control. It was pretty catastrophic for our business but we have survived and are happy to still be here serving so many wonderful families.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a very family run and oriented business. We are all parents ourselves and it might seem obvious but we love kids. We love to be part of the village that helps other parents in this journey. We have been in business for 17 years (as of February 2025) and we have always been closed on Sundays so that our staff can spend time with their own friends and families. We value the personal attention that we give to kids. We are inclusive and we will always allow special needs kids to give us a try and see if it’s a good fit. We have many, many beloved families over the years that started as customers and became special friends to us and our staff.

Our mission is to simply provide clean modern spaces where kids can be kids and parents can get the free time they needs. We take great pride in our summer camp program. We get kids out of the center and into the sunshine and fresh air to do lots of fun things. This program was modeled after the things that I knew my own kids wanted to do in the summer; go to fun places, play games, splash in the water, skate, bowl, etc. Our Wilmington location is even lucky enough to go to the beach and some locations go to the water park.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
That was such a hard time for us. The lessons would probably be that it reinforced how important our staff is to us and how much we want to take care of them like family. It also, of course, reinforced cleanliness and prevention of the spread of illnesses. We also saw the value of the socialization that we provide to kids. Before covid, kids were so eager to play with other kids. For a little while after the crisis, some young kids had to relearn these social skills. It was great to watch as they began to come out of their shells and learn to just be kids again.

Pricing:

• $14/hour
• Hours packages as low as $7.75/hour
• Part time monthly Membership $300/month
• After school care $350/month
• Summer Camp weekly $275 but we have early bird discounts

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gigglesdaycareinc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gigglesofraleigh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GigglesDropinChildcareOfRaleigh/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gigglesdrop-inchildcare4649/featured