The desire to find a safe place for her first two children to grow and play inspired Mary Melzack, a late-in-life mother, to develop the interactive children’s play center WeePlay & Learn.

Now she’s adding a 12,000-foot companion preschool just in time for her last two children — Georgina, 4, and Constadina, 2 — to get the early education that she always wanted to find.

"I’m so happy that they’ll go to preschool designed by Mom just for them," she said.

The arrival of David, now 10, and Arianna, now 9, was the original inspiration for WeePlay, which Melzack launched in 2004 at the Bestsellers Books & Music store that her husband, Brian, formerly operated in the Koko Marina Center. By responding to her family’s changing needs as a household with young children, Melzack created a retail concept that could appeal to a broader demographic than their independent bookstore chain.

For a membership fee, the original WeePlay & Learn provides guided play for parents and their children. Programs include music, dance and art classes, tumble gym classes and a "keiki snack bar."

Although the concept rapidly grew along with the Melzack family, it, like many of Hawaii’s small businesses, experienced growing pains. WeePlay was designed as a companion business to help the more profitable Bestsellers chain compete with Barnes & Noble and Borders Books & Music. Yet as social habits sent more customers to online bookstores, Bestsellers faltered and began to close sites. At one time Bestsellers had locations at Bishop Square, Koko Marina, Hilton Hawaiian Village and Honolulu Airport.

"Last year, online book sales surpassed bookstore sales," Brian Melzack said. "You couldn’t have predicted that when we started Bestsellers."

Next month the chain will close its only remaining location at the airport, and WeePlay will become the family’s only local business, he said.

"It’s come full circle," Mary Melzack said. "The business that we started as a seedling has taken root and blossomed."

The Melzacks arrived in Hawaii in 1995 after Brian Melzack sold his interests in the Toronto-based Classic Bookshops, a 150-bookstore chain in Canada and the U.S. Melzack was chief executive of the company.

Growing the business that Mary Melzack affectionately refers to as her "fifth child" has not been easy. A tight financing market forced the Melzacks to self-fund the business. In 2007 the business temporarily closed after the couple and SKH Asset Advisors LLC, the Koko Marina Shopping Center’s asset manager, were unable to agree on new terms.

"We lost more than half a million dollars," Mary Melzack said. Much of that was spent on remodeling the Koko Marina shop. "I was devastated at the time, but in reality it turned out to be a blessing."

Undeterred by the temporary loss of her dream, Mary Melzack reopened WeePlay in 2008 in the more centrally located Ward Warehouse. With the change in location, Melzack effectively tripled her space, allowing her to expand the concept to offer play and exercise time for parents, too.

The business will double again with the opening of the WeePlay & Learn Preschool next November. The five-classroom preschool will debut from its "little red schoolhouse" building located at 900 Halekauwila Street behind the former Dixie Grill. The two-story building will feature a secure car drop-off and an innovative indoor playground that looks like it’s outdoors.

"It was absolutely natural to move WeePlay forward," Mary Melzack said. "Many families would approach me and say, ‘What’s the next step?’ I saw the dilemma because I was facing it, too."

WeePlay memberships, which require a minimum three months’ enrollment, range from $65 a month for one day of play per week to $115 a month for daily access to the center. WeePlay parents pay $75 monthly for access to hourlong exercise classes and keiki care Mondays through Fridays. Quarterly specials are available.

WeePlay is enrolling for its half-day and full-day preschool at the Halekauwila Street location. Rates are $799 per child per month for the 7 a.m.-to-2:30 p.m. program and $999 per month per child for the 7 a.m.-to-5:30 p.m. program.

Ruby Hildreth, a Texas military wife with 16 years of preschool teaching and management experience, will serve as the preschool’s program director. More teachers will be hired.

"We’ve designed a very hands-on curriculum for the children," Hildreth said. "We really feel that children learn best through play and active involvement. We want to make learning meaningful for them so that they’ll take it out of the classroom."

Although WeePlay’s success has been hard won, it should come as no surprise to those who have followed Mary Melzack’s career. At 19 she opened her first retail store, Lady II, which was similar to Merle Norman in Toronto, and grew it to a five-store chain. After selling the chain, Melzack made a second career in high-end retail shopping center development, developing Hazelton Lanes Shopping Centre in downtown Toronto.