The Learning Experience franchise expands to Charlotte 

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National daycare franchise The Learning Experience announced it is expanding in the Charlotte area with 4 new locations opening in the next two years – bringing 40,000 square feet of freestanding commercial real estate space, full-time jobs, and consistent traffic to nearby businesses with parents dropping off and picking up their children twice a day, five days a week.

The Learning Experience locations each consist of up to 10,000-square-foot of indoor building space with up to a 5,000-square-foot playground. Each new center will also employ up to 30 staff members and certified teachers to serve up to 180 children ages 6 weeks to 6 years with daycare and early childhood education.

The Learning Experience, which currently has more than 450 locations operating in 30 states, plans to open 4 new locations in: 

1. Indian Land 
2. Lake Wylie 
3. Gastonia 
4. Research Drive

The expansion underscores an overall increase in the development of new early learning assets, which show no signs of slowing down as demand in this segment is sky-high and growing. Net lease real estate investors remain attracted to the early learning sector’s recession-resistant nature, high-quality real estate, long lease terms, and escalating demand, and to the value of creditworthy large operators like The Learning Experience as tenants.

When identifying potential sites and markets for expansion, The Learning Experience’s Chief Development Officer, David Slavny, and his real estate team analyze a number of factors, including daytime population of the surrounding area; traffic patterns; population of children ages 6 and under in a one-, three- and five-mile radius; and average household incomes within those same areas.

The Learning Experience pursues growth in new markets by establishing both franchise and corporate-owned sites in each major metro market. Once it identifies a market, it then establishes franchised sites in the surrounding suburban areas. Franchisees sign 15-year agreements with the company.

The Florida-based franchise, owned by the private equity group Harvest Partners, has opened more than 80 centers over the past two years and now has more than 450 centers in 30 states, as well as three locations in the U.K. It plans to add more than 150 new locations over the next three years. The Learning Experience was ranked No. 15 overall in Entrepreneur magazine’s 2026 ranking of the world’s top 500 franchises.