Amusement Lease vs. Buying
By the Family Entertainment Center
Page 1, 2
Perhaps
one of the biggest decisions in the fun business is your location.
Should you lease? Buy? Build? And once you've made that decision, the
question is where!
No matter how long you've been in this business or just starting out,
you've heard the golden rule when it comes to real estate--location, location,
location--but is it really that important?
For
some businesses, the classic advice "location, location, location" is right on the mark -- location
can mean the difference between feast or famine. But for other enterprises,
including a children's play center, location may be much less important
than finding affordable rental space. The reason for this is that unlike
other retail ventures, these facilities are "destinations".
People will not typically drive by your facility and come in to play
for a couple of hours - it is a planned event. So in many cases, unlike
the Flower Shop that needs to be in the stripe mall to attract drive-by
and walk-in sales, your project can drive traffic to your location through
good marketing.
However, there are always exceptions to the above. For example, your
business goals may be to provide a much needed 'child-minding' service
for shoppers of the local mall. That agenda would dictate that in order
to offer that service, you need to be in the mall. However in most 'traditional'
FEC's and Children Entertainment Centers the business model is based on
attracting visitors to play and stay as a family group over an extended
period of time.
Facility Layout and Design
As with everything you design, build, add and include in your
final facility plans, the long term return on that decision is paramount
in making the decision to include it - can you drive a return on
that investment?
The same applies to your location. What kind of a facility will
best help you drive a return on your overall investment? Forget
about the dimensions/size of the building for a moment and focus
on the physical 'aspects' of the building - what should that look
like? Typically, most of these facilities are some form of warehouse
or industrial type space. The reasons are usually two-fold, 1) in
most cases warehouse space will be cheaper / square foot then high
traffic retail space and 2) the space itself is usually more accommodating
with ceiling height, interior layout and parking.
A general rule of thumb for interior layout is an open, welcoming
entry/exit area with good lighting and enough space (including some
seating) to accommodate weekend line-ups for your birthday party's.
Additionally, handi-capped access and even lockers in some cases
add positive 'guest-impressions'.
To maximize your activity
mix think ceiling height - the higher the better. Soft Contained
Playgrounds (softplay) are custom designed and a good design
can maximize your floor space by using the "volume" of
your space. Instead of eating up 2,000 square feet of floor space
with a two-level design in a facility with 12 foot ceilings,
you could get the same child-capacity in a 3 or 4 level playground
with 1,200 square feet of space with 16+ foot ceilings.
Additionally, the added playability received from a 3 or 4 level
playground is going to dramatically add to your long term return
on that playground investment. As children grow from 4 to 11 years
old, their needs and expectations for play will change and it is
difficult to meet those needs with a 2 level playground. This is
especially true if you are in a community and dependent upon repeat
visits each year to survive. Strengthen your playability factor
easily by adding height to your playground.
In addition to contained play, other activities may also benefit
from higher ceilings; rock climbing, bouncy castle and some of those
newer bungee-jumpers And, if you can swing it with your landlord,
adding staff / lunch rooms and office / storage space on an upstairs
mezzanine area may help conserve valuable floor space as well.
Almost all startup amusement centers start out in leased (rented) premises,
and most use leased space throughout the life of the business. By
leasing rather than buying, you avoid tying up valuable working
capital, and it's easier to move to new quarters if your space needs
change.
|
