Trade names: Local day care chain has grown steadily since 1971 start

Emily Baish visited several day care centers earlier this year before deciding to place her two children in Tuckaway Child Development and Early Education Centers.

"When I visited Tuckaway I felt comfortable," she said. "I could see my kids there."

It's important to Baish that the school has a caring atmosphere.

"I have incredible trust in Tuckaway," she said. "My kids are happy and secure there so I am happy."

Beverly and Karlis Graubics bought Tuckaway in 1971. At the time, the child-care center had only one location - at 2125 Tuckaway Lane in western Henrico County. There were two buildings on the grounds.

"We moved into the one residence and ran the child-care center in the other building," Beverly Graubics said.

The couple began thinking about child-care options when they became displeased with the center where their children were enrolled.

"We wanted quality child care for our own children," Graubics said. "My husband told me we were going to look at Tuckaway and, if it worked out, we were going to buy it."

Since then, Tuckaway has expanded into five locations - a sixth one is slated to open next year - and grown from taking care of 39 children to about 900 children weekly.

Tuckaway provides fulland part-time child care as well as pre-kindergarten and after-school care. Children range from infant through 12 years old. Tuckaway also offers private kindergarten, summer camps and a Montessori class.

By 1984, the Graubics saw a need for a child-care center in Hanover County. They bought 13 acres off Cold Harbor Road and built a second center on five of the acres.

"That was a big step forward for child-care centers to have one designed from the ground up specifically for children," said John Graubics, Tuckaway's president and son of the company founders.

The company expanded once again in 1987 when an Innsbrook location was added.

"We built that from the ground up too," John Graubics said. "When it became full, we added another building on that same property."

The Graubics built a center off Three Chopt Road near Cox Road in 1994. A second building was added there in 1999 and is dedicated to Tuckaway's after-school and summer programs.

Lisa D'Amato of Henrico sent two of her boys to Tuckaway's location off Three Chopt Road when they were younger. D'Amato's youngest son attended Tuckaway preschool.

"Their care was excellent," D'Amato said. "We had a bad experience with a previous day care. We switched to Tuckaway for peace of mind. I was very happy with everything they did."

In 2000, when the Graubics learned that the owners of Ellwood House child-care center near Carytown were retiring, they bought the center, making it Tuckaway's first location in the city.

"We renovated the playground and did a lot of work on the building to update and modernize it," John Graubics said. "We also relocated the entrance to make it safer."

Tuckaway bought a day care center in Ashland in 2001, but closed that location in December.

In June, Tuckaway bought the Hanover Montessori School and moved its Montessori class to the Tuckaway center on Cold Harbor Road in Mechanicsville.

Tuckaway also plans to open a center in the Varina area of eastern Henrico in May.

The teachers at Tuckaway look at every child as an individual, Beverly Graubics said.

"We've always had that philosophy, but we started seeing it as a nationally recognized best practice," she said. "We were ahead of our time."