Maui PlayCare Says Aloha to Oklahoma City

After working as a child welfare investigator, foster-care manager and a seventh-grade teacher for nearly three decades, it’s safe to say that Marilyn Alexander knows kids. Now, The Journal Record is reporting that, with the help of her family, Marilyn is using those years of experience to open one of the first Maui PlayCare franchises in the continental U.S. Alexander is opening the Oklahoma City center alongside her son, Shea Alexander, and his wife, Becca.

“I didn’t want to go into a business I had no knowledge of,” Marilyn said. “The one thing that I knew well was children.” The family does not have a lease signed yet, but Shea said they are in lease negotiations for space that likely will fall along the Northwest Expressway.

Hawaii-based Maui PlayCare offers drop-in child care by the hour, or even the minute, with no enrollment fees. Founded in 2002 in Kahului, Hawaii, it started offering franchises this year at the prodding of tourists. “Being in Maui, we get a lot of tourists coming in and dropping their kids off,” said owner Bonnie McCarthy. “A lot of people asked, ‘Wow, is this a franchise?’ I said, ‘No, it’s not. I own it.’” With operations in development in Oklahoma and Arizona, McCarthy hopes to sign 30 to 50 new franchisees in 2009, opening 15 to 25 centers next year.

The Alexanders’ center will have about 4,000 square feet of indoor playground space, but will not be set up like a typical day-care. Once parents provide current shot records and complete their child registration, the kids will be ready to play. Hourly rates start at $8.95 for the first child, $6.95 for a second, and $5.95 for any additional children.

“Our goal is to have parents in and out the door in less than five minutes,” he said. While the center could hold up to 120 children, Shea said they plan to allow only 60 to 70 at most times. The Alexanders also have their sights set on opening several more centers in the next few years, probably from Edmond to Norman. “We plan to get this first one open,” Shea said. “Then there will be at least one more in the metro area within eighteen months.”