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Posted by: Jack
« on: September 26, 2019, 09:13:03 am »

Zyngaru had asked about this, so I thought I'd post a full update here.

Things are going pretty well.  We did quite a lot of advertising when we opened, but people still seem to be learning about us. 

We're not quite breaking even yet, but that's mostly because of our schedule.  We're at the point where we could probably break even by turning away some business on weekday evenings, when things are slow.  We're trying to avoid that, because we're hoping to get more people coming in at those times.  Huck and I have talked it over, and we're going to hold on through the end of the year, then re-evaluate.

I did sell the House of Bounce... to myself.  It's really just a paperwork issue.  If you remember, I have one store that was a Target, which they closed after building a Super Target a mile or so away.  The House of Bounce used to be a Toys R Us before they went bankrupt.  In both of those cases, I had huge parking lots, and I wasn't able to use all of them most of the time if ever (except allowing an occasional carnival or event of some type).  Well, I had an offer and I sold part of the parking lot for fast food locations.  The way it worked out, it was easier to fold the House over into my Magicat's businesses and close their debts that way, then  make the sales.

I guess that doesn't really matter much, except it simplifies things for me and Huck, since he and his dad are still striking sparks as often as not over his choice not to get a degree right now. 

We're doing good during the day, because I have groups of home school kids coming in for 'PE classes'.  We're also doing really good on the weekends, both with walk-ins and with parties.  It's actually not even too bad after school, because a number of parents seem to bring school kids around for an hour or so to burn off energy.

And, as long as we have people coming in on a regular basis, the food areas stay busy as well.

Besides closing earlier on weekday evenings, we're also looking at alternate uses for some area.  I don't think installing any type of arcade would bring in more people, and it probably wouldn't get those who were already there to spend much more, so we're considering some type of souvenirs or something; we just haven't had a good idea of what might be unique enough to make a difference. 
Posted by: Jack
« on: September 04, 2018, 12:47:17 pm »

Quote from: David M. Katz on September 04, 2018, 12:26:59 pm
Quote from: Jack on August 27, 2018, 04:18:25 pm

At this point, we don't have a lot of business in the evenings

That would seem to be expected with school starting back and all of the related extracurricular activities going on.

It's not unexpected.  We're just trying to figure out when we need to be open, and how much staff we need at different times. 

We are doing pretty well some days.  It turns out we have several home schooling families who will come in for an hour or two as one of their exercise classes.   I should probably make a point of going in to meet some of them.
Posted by: David M. Katz
« on: September 04, 2018, 12:26:59 pm »

Quote from: Jack on August 27, 2018, 04:18:25 pm

At this point, we don't have a lot of business in the evenings

That would seem to be expected with school starting back and all of the related extracurricular activities going on.
Posted by: kalico
« on: August 28, 2018, 12:36:15 am »

That’s great that everything seems to be going great for the new business ....

Sounds like everything has worked out with staffing that’s great....




Hugs kal
Posted by: Jack
« on: August 27, 2018, 04:18:25 pm »

The grand opening went well.  So did the Back to School Fair.  Remember, it's only been a couple of weeks since we opened, and school started during that time, but our weekends are pretty busy, and we've already had a lot of reservations for birthday parties - nearly through Thanksgiving last I heard.

Huck is doing well.  I found an older (compared to Huck) guy who was looking for a job.  He has some management experience, but isn't interested in doing that anymore.  He did agree to work as Huck's assistant manager for a while, so he can help train Huck or let me know if he feels Huck or the business has any rough spots, and also help train new people.  He seems happy to be getting decent pay without worrying about (long-term) pressure, and he's willing to keep acting as a 'keyholder' even after Huck has a good management team in place. 

At this point, we don't have a lot of business in the evenings, but we're still keeping some people on staff.  There are often at least a few teens that come by in the evenings, play around for a while, and sometimes eat something, so we're not losing money, and it gives us a chance to see what hours will work best for us.
Posted by: Leti
« on: August 27, 2018, 09:57:29 am »

Hola Jack!
How did the opening go?
I hope that everything was fine and that Huck is doing great! ;)

Hugs

Leti
Posted by: Jack
« on: August 09, 2018, 04:39:51 am »

Everything is set, and we're going to have our grand opening weekend the 18th of this month. However, we're going to be opening before that.

Every year about this time, there's an event where we (the Huff Foundation is one of the organizers) gathers together groups that help match needy families with resources.  We usually have pediatricians giving free exams and vaccinations, school supplies, even clothing, as well as helping people sign up for after school programs and meal programs, among other things.  Normally, we also serve some kind of food at the event.

This year, the event is going to be this weekend, and it will be held in the parking lot of Pump Up the Jump.  PUtJ will also be open, and we'll be giving limited free use, and some free food, as well as coupons, and we'll be giving away a free birthday party once an hour.  There were a lot of things unsure about this, so it was harder to schedule the actual opening, which also means harder to advertise it.  I'm hoping that this will not only be fun for a lot of families with limited resources, but it will also be a great way to let people know we're here and get them talking about us.
Posted by: Jack
« on: July 26, 2018, 04:44:21 am »

Thought I'd mention that they have completed all the interior construction on the building.  I'm supposed to go in and double check it today, and we're supposed to have the city inspectors come in and inspect everything next Monday and/or Tuesday.

I said 'interior construction', because they still have a bit of work to do outside, mostly putting up new signs.

I'll wait to say anything else until after I've done the inspection.
Posted by: Adric
« on: July 06, 2018, 08:46:31 am »

This is the story about the explosion in England.  The more common incident in outdoor settings is wind-related.
Posted by: Zyngaru
« on: July 05, 2018, 08:01:00 pm »

The only real issue I know about bounce houses is when they are outside and the wind catches them with kids in them and they go flying.  Some times it is because the tie downs were not used.  Other times they were tied down, but the stakes just didn't go deep enough to hold with the gust of wind they were having.

I haven't heard of any issues with bounce houses indoors.  I have a niece that has one in her living room for her two boys to play on.  They are 3 and 4 years old.
Posted by: Jack
« on: July 05, 2018, 03:07:39 pm »

Quote from: David M. Katz on July 05, 2018, 01:48:52 pm
Is storing the (deflated?) bounce houses an issue until such time as they are put in to use?  it seems they would take up a lot of space.

We haven't taken delivery on all of them at this time, and I actually have warehouse space in at least two other buildings, so no, it's not really a problem.
Posted by: David M. Katz
« on: July 05, 2018, 01:48:52 pm »

Is storing the (deflated?) bounce houses an issue until such time as they are put in to use?  it seems they would take up a lot of space.
Posted by: Jack
« on: July 05, 2018, 12:03:16 pm »

Quote from: Adric on July 05, 2018, 08:47:19 am
Quote from: Jack on June 23, 2018, 03:36:48 pm
If you mean 'more insurance than the comic stores' then the answer is yes.  If you mean 'more insurance than bounce houses', the answer is not really. 

I read recently about a fatal bounce house incident in England.  A house exploded and threw a small child 20 feet in the air.  Hard to imagine that would happen.

I haven't heard about this, but it's easy to find several reports with Google.

First of all, each of the reports I read about were cases where the House was in an outdoors setting.  None of them reported the cause of the explosion, but they were things like beach, restaurant, fair.  While they're really not that hard to set up, I have several people, including Huck, who are receiving training in maintenance and repair of this equipment.  Also, because they were outdoors, they didn't have the amount of padding we do, but they did have much more open space where the kids could be thrown.

If the insurance becomes an actual problem, we can always try again with something a bit safer, but it doesn't seem to be a problem in other cities so far.
Posted by: Adric
« on: July 05, 2018, 08:47:19 am »

Quote from: Jack on June 23, 2018, 03:36:48 pm
If you mean 'more insurance than the comic stores' then the answer is yes.  If you mean 'more insurance than bounce houses', the answer is not really. 

I read recently about a fatal bounce house incident in England.  A house exploded and threw a small child 20 feet in the air.  Hard to imagine that would happen.
Posted by: Jack
« on: June 24, 2018, 03:52:52 am »

Thanks for the idea, Journey.  Those look pretty cool - http://www.clipnclimb.com/ - for those of you unfamiliar with it.

Unfortunately, we already have the plans in place and largely completed.  To change what we have now would be pretty expensive and require a LOT more time, so it's not really possible. 

Looks like fun, though.