Chicago Tribune: Big Blue Swim School is Growing, Despite COVID-19

While brands across virtually every industry scale back operations to contend with the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Big Blue Swim School continues to expand across the country.

In a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, the swim-school franchise’s founder and president, Chris DeJong, said his brand has signed four multi-unit development deals in New York, Connecticut, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all of which were inked after the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic in March.

The franchise’s success in recent months has drawn positive feedback from franchisees and the brand’s 165 full-time employees, all of whom have remained employed throughout the crisis. Landlords, too, have found some much-needed reliability in the brand, which is not only keeping up with rent payments but also promises to draw new business to neighboring commercial properties with its strip-center real estate model. “We have been hearing back from landlords that see a need for our recession-resistant, experience-based service,” DeJong told the Tribune.

Though Big Blue Swim School’s pools are closed for the time being, the CDC has announced the virus cannot be spread through water. Big Blue is gearing up to reopen after social-distancing and stay-at-home orders lift, and the brand is expecting an influx of new customers. “As we get to the other side of this, parents will be looking for safe activities for their children,” DeJong said.