Leading Children's Specialty Retailer Revitalizes 10 Public Spaces in Local Communities as Learning Centers Across the Country and Donates Books, School Supplies, and Products to Today's Youth

SECAUCUS, N.J., July 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Children's Place, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE), the largest pure-play children's specialty retailer in North America, is excited to announce its 2022 Back-to-School campaign in partnership with award-winning actor, comedian, best-selling author and philanthropist, Kevin Hart. With the goal of empowering children through reading and continued education, The Children's Place alongside Mr. Hart, will launch a number of learning centers across the country. Located in deserving neighborhoods, these learning centers are fun, safe spaces which will encourage creative exploration and discovery among children.

Kicking off the back-to-school season, the Company and Mr. Hart unveiled the first community learning center at NYC Parks' Thomas Jefferson Recreation Center today, in East Harlem, in New York City. The Children's Place team, Hart, NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue, and other NYC government officials, conducted a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening event with fun activities for children and families from the East Harlem community. Hundreds of children filled colorful, imaginative space with books in hand, while listening to Mr. Hart as he hosted an exclusive read-along from his book, Marcus Makes a Movie, the first in a highly illustrated middle grade series published by Crown Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. The grand opening event also included immersive and experiential activations, including a branded school bus. The Children's Place School Bus was stocked with backpacks filled with back-to-school products and accessories, and school supplies provided by BIC including pencils, markers and more.

"The Children's Place is committed to giving back, and moreover, we understand the importance of access to education and supporting key moments that will shape children's lives," said Maegan Markee, Senior Vice President of Marketing of The Children's Place, Inc. "Kevin Hart was the perfect partner to help launch this year's back-to-school campaign. He too advocates for children's continued education, both in and out of the classroom, and as a father, sees firsthand the impact that access to books, and both play and practice materials can have on a child's life. We couldn't be more excited to work with Kevin to give back to our future leaders of tomorrow."

Scaling the program to deserving communities nationwide, The Children's Place will continue its efforts in launching an additional nine learning center locations through the Fall of 2022. Working collaboratively with local libraries, community centers and ThriftBooks, the leading independent online seller of new and used books, The Children's Place reading centers will each feature thousands of books, totaling to over 20,000 books donated by ThriftBooks to stock the spaces. Each space will feature comfortable seating arrangements, interactive chalkboard walls, and empowering wall murals and artwork to serve as a safe haven where children in each community can gain access to reading materials and learning supplies, while also allowing themselves to thrive in imagining.

"As a father, I understand how school, education, and reading material can influence rising generations. Whether opening a new book, taking on a new challenge in the classroom, or making memories with fellow students, these are the times that most impact a child's life. This is the reason why I wrote my Marcus book series, Marcus Makes a Movie and Marcus Makes it Big. When The Children's Place told me what they were up to, I had to join them," said Kevin Hart. "Over the last two years of the pandemic, I've seen first-hand the challenges that children are facing when it comes to learning, making my partnership with The Children's Place even more important to me. I'm thrilled to be a part of this powerful campaign to provide an inspiring, much-needed space for kids, right in their own communities."

"We are happy to partner with The Children's Place and Kevin Hart in opening this beautiful new learning center in East Harlem," said NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue. "Thomas Jefferson Recreation Center is an important resource for surrounding communities – and thanks to this investment through our Adopt-A-Park program, the facility now offers a bright colorful space where kids and families can focus on reading, learning, and creativity."

 "At BIC, we have a long-standing commitment to improving lives through education," said Katty Pien, BIC's Vice President of Marketing for North America. "Giving children the opportunity to combine learning with creativity and self-expression helps engage students, whether that's at school, in the community or at home. With back-to-school season around the corner, we are delighted that BIC's partnership with The Children's Place will help support children across the country to be their best and most imaginative selves."

To continue to encourage children's confidence and self-expression, The Children's Place will also be sponsoring a 'Show Us Your Personali-TEE Contest'. The contest encourages families to imagine, create and submit a graphic illustration they would like featured within the Brands' upcoming graphic tee collection.

For more information about The Children's Place Back-to-School Campaign and to shop the brand's Back-to-School product collection, please visit www.thechildrensplace.com and follow @ChildrensPlace on Instagram and Facebook.

The project at Thomas Jefferson Recreation Center was made possible through NYC Parks' Adopt-a-Park program, where organizations, groups, and individuals contribute to improving New York City's parks. For more information, visit nyc.gov/parks.

The Children's Place is the largest pure-play children's specialty apparel retailer in North America. The Company designs, contracts to manufacture, sells at retail and wholesale, and licenses to sell fashionable, high-quality merchandise predominantly at value prices, primarily under the proprietary "The Children's Place", "Place", "Baby Place", "Gymboree" and "Sugar & Jade" brand names. The Company has online stores at www.childrensplace.com, www.gymboree.com and www.sugarandjade.com and, as of April 30, 2022, the Company had 665 stores in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico and the Company's six international franchise partners had 212 international points of distribution in 16 countries. 

Contact: Investor Relations (201) 558-2400 ext. 14500

ThriftBooks Global LLC is the world's largest independent online seller of used books, having sold more than 225 million used and new books since its inception. Founded in Seattle in 2003, ThriftBooks operates multiple processing centers throughout the US that purchase, grade, and distribute used and rare/collectible books. ThriftBooks sells across a variety of online platforms, including ThriftBooks.com, Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Etsy, and others. ThriftBooks.com provides a best-in-class e-commerce shopping experience, as evidenced by its 2021 Best Online Shops recognition, its Best Customer Service award four years in a row, and its 5-star Trustpilot score with more than 1 million customer reviews. Customers who shop at ThriftBooks.com enjoy everyday low prices and can earn free books through the company's much loved loyalty program, ReadingRewards.

A world leader in stationery, lighters and shavers, BIC brings simplicity and joy to everyday life. For more than 75 years, the Company has honored the tradition of providing high-quality, affordable, essential products to consumers everywhere. Through this unwavering dedication, BIC has become one of the most recognized brands and is a trademark registered worldwide. Today, BIC products are sold in more than 160 countries around the world and feature iconic brands such as BIC Kids™, BIC Flex^TM, BodyMark by BIC^TM, Cello^®, Djeep, Lucky Stationery, Rocketbook, Soleil^®, Tipp-Ex^®, Us. ^TM, Wite-Out^® and more. In 2020, BIC Net Sales were 1,627.9 million euros. The Company is listed on "Euronext Paris," is part of the SBF120 and CAC Mid 60 indexes and is recognized for its commitment to sustainable development and education. It received an A- Leadership score from CDP. For more, visit about.bic.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube. 

This press release contains or may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to statements relating to the Company's strategic initiatives and adjusted net income per diluted share. Forward-looking statements typically are identified by use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "plan," "project," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current expectations and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially. Some of these risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the "Risk Factors" section of its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 29, 2022. Included among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially are the risk that the Company will be unsuccessful in gauging fashion trends and changing consumer preferences, the risks resulting from the highly competitive nature of the Company's business and its dependence on consumer spending patterns, which may be affected by changes in economic conditions, the risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business or the economy in general (including decreased customer traffic, schools adopting remote and hybrid learning models, closures of businesses and other activities causing decreased demand for our products and negative impacts on our customers' spending patterns due to decreased income or actual or perceived wealth, and the impact of legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including any changes to such legislation), the risk that the Company's strategic initiatives to increase sales and margin are delayed or do not result in anticipated improvements, the risk of delays, interruptions and disruptions in the Company's global supply chain, including resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or other disease outbreaks, foreign sources of supply in less developed countries, more politically unstable countries, or countries where vendors fail to comply with industry standards or ethical business practices, including the use of forced, indentured or child labor, the risk that the cost of raw materials or energy prices will increase beyond current expectations or that the Company is unable to offset cost increases through value engineering or price increases, various types of litigation, including class action litigations brought under consumer protection, employment, and privacy and information security laws and regulations, the imposition of regulations affecting the importation of foreign-produced merchandise, including duties and tariffs, and the uncertainty of weather patterns. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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SOURCE The Children’s Place, Inc.