INDOOR PLAYGROUNDS - AND COMMUNITY VALUE
What does community play value have to do with playground equipment and indoor attractions?
For many smaller indoor party center operators (were talking 10,000 square feet and under), they fill a basic need for community fun and adventure. Some place to have a party, share a growth experience with your child, meet and socially engage with neighbors and friends, and ideally provide an experience your guests can’t find at home.
This in itself is a display of community value – a friendly place to gather, play and socialize. However, the community value proposition is a silo with a very tall ceiling, that many amusement attractions and in particular, indoor party centers, fail to fully exploit.
By exploit, we mean taking full advantage of your ‘total’ community demographic and the development expense, layout and design of your indoor party center attraction, and how they fit together to enhance the options for community services and your own profitability.
How to Deliver Community Play Value
No matter the age group you are targeting, constantly looking for opportunity to provide value to your guest’s experience is key to finding and generating consistent community value.
From the simple things like easy stroller parking for mom, having a party chaperone take care of and interacting with the party group, creating a layout that provides sight lines for mom to keep her little one’s within visible range, or creating simple menu options and package pricing.
There are many, many ways to provide community value. In the stellar services you provide, or the sense of security your facility creates in the mind of your guests, or the age appropriate interactions your staff is trained and encouraged to share. Every thing counts.
From our experience, a real value-add that most party center attraction developers miss, is the opportunity to multi-purpose your space through the development and use of various programs and content.
For example, we always recommend indoor party center’s have some overflow space that can be ‘multi-purposed’ to provide room for additional parties – nothing worse than having to turn away good party business.
That same space can be used to create some form of regular activity, presentation, or community event during the slower weekdays.
A monthly calendar of activities and events beyond just open play, can help you stand-out from the competition and develop your brand as community centric.
Adding content and programming facilitates the opportunity to provide community value, if it really does provide community value.
Whether that includes an after school program, a school achievement program for kids who apply themselves to good grades, etc. It can also mean the addition of playful learning or an edutainment component that encourages and stimulates young minds, and can support current school curriculum as a fun, adventurous learning modality. Providing content and programs to your indoor party center isn’t rocket science, but the end results can have a very meaningful impact on your bottom line, and the loyalty generated by putting your community into your operating strategy.
In the long run, creating strong community value is a branding strategy. It provides market differentiation, it gives operators a huge leg up on other competitive attractions that don’t, and it provides revenue opportunities outside of just the “play” aspect of your indoor party center business.
