The story behind Leo's
Leo’s is Sweden's oldest and most popular play center chain. Since 2006 we have enabled play, fun and adventure. Today, over 40 play centers are established throughout the Nordics in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Children and movement is and has always been our focus at Leo’s. When the company was started in 2006 in Luleå, Sweden, the founders wanted to create a place for families focused on play and movement. It is more relevant than ever, as research shows that children are exercising too little today.
Timeline
2006
It all started in Luleå, Sweden. The founders Joakim Gunler and Jonas Rönnqvist wanted to create a place for families focused on play and movement.
2007
The second play center is established in Umeå, Sweden.
2008
Establishment in Växjö.
2009
Establishment in Skellefteå and Kalmar.
2010
Establishment in Borås.
2011
The company acquires a Norwegian chain with 5 play centers. Leo's is established in Haugesund, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Tromsø and Trondheim.
Establishments in Malmö, Baerum (Oslo) and Fredrikstad.
2012
The company establishes in Bergen, Eskilstuna, Uppsala, Oslo (Ulsrud), Västerås.
2013
Leo's enters Denmark and established the first play center in Aalborg.
Expansion of the the first play center in Luleå and establishment in Linköping.
2014
The first play center in Stockholm (Arninge/Täby). Establishment in Jönköping.
In december 2014 Leo's established a strong partnership with Litorina to enable further expansion.
2015
A new concept of the bistro is launched- Bistro Leo's.
Three new play centers are established in Denmark - Odense, Aarhus and Copenhagen (Herlev). In Sweden a play center is established in Karlstad.
2016
Leo's enters Finland and opens two play centers in Tampere and Kempele. The expansion continues in Sweden as well with four new play centers - Malmö (Stora Bernstorp), Sundsvall, Helsingborg and Borlänge.
A brand new Bistro Menu is launched.
2017
Leo's acquires the play center chain Andy's and rebuilds and rebrands the play centers in Stockholm (Bromma and Barkarby). A play center in Kungens Kurva, Stockholm is established as well. Stockholm now has 4 play centers.
Two play centers in Sweden (Umeå and Uppsala) get new locations.
The expansion continues in Finland, Jyväskylä and Lahti, and Denmark, Ishøj (Copenhagen).
2018
The fifth play center In Finland (Pori) is established. In Sweden three new establishments are made Q1 and Q2 - Halmstad, Partille (Gothenburg) and Länna (Stockholm).
The Grand opening of Leo's in Halmstad, Sweden, June 2018.
2019
Four new Leo´s was established, two in Finland (Turku and Espoo), one in Sweden (Kristianstad) and one in Germany (Bremen).
Leo´s entered a new market by opening our first playcenter in northern Germany in the city of Bremen. The opening was a big success - the best opening week in Leo´s history. We have never had that many guests during an opening week.
2020
Leo´s reached an important milestone when we opened our 50th playcenter in Mölndal Gothenburg (Sweden). We also re-opened out playcenter in Borås (Sweden) in a new location.
During the pandemic we were closed for 100 days. We re-opened with a new digital entrance system to be able to meet the restrictions during the pandemic.
2021
Leo´s continue the expansion in Gothenburg (Sweden) and opened in Backaplan.
