Wackadayz soft play centre in Richmond, North Yorkshire, is quite the social hub for toddlers, young children and adults alike. First established in 2010, the Humphries family took charge of the premises around two and a half years ago, and have since made several new additions to Wacky’s World, including a separate baby-safe section, the expansion of the toddler area and more recently, the introduction of Lazer Fun parties.
Managing Director, Cherell Humphries, studied Early Childhood Education and Teaching before going on to work as an NVQ Assessor in Childcare.
Soft play finance case study
Money doesn’t buy happiness. But it does buy trampolines- and have you ever seen a sad person on a trampoline? – Unknown
The latter is certainly true, and since Jump Division opened its doors to the public on December 15th, there been many a happy customer in Wigan.
For Debbie and Stephen Stothers, the opening of a trampoline park marked a completely new occupational direction; with Stephen previously working in telecoms and Debbie still juggling a career in Business Training with the new-found commitment of Jump Division.
The Beach Hut, Great Harwood, Lancs, is a brand new play centre that provides activities for children of all ages. Owner Mel had the dream of opening a play centre in her local area for many years and spent this time saving and learning the requirements of running such a site.
When developing the centre, Mel wanted to offer a full range of exciting activities for children of all ages in a purpose-built building that offers a multi-level soft play frame for ages 3-11, which features wavy slides, obstacle climber, sports pitch, and creepy climber.
Chorlton’s Cheeky Monkeys is a children’s play centre that boasts an air-conditioned soft play area with multi-play levels, separate toddler area that includes daily entertainment. Your children will be able to bounce on trampolines, go down slides, climb walls, enter a spooky tunnel and try a ‘”in the air” football pitch and specialist weekly classes.
Wanting to provide even more entertainment for your children, they decided to create ‘Lazer Land’ as part of a mezzanine floor expansion. This new lazer tag game is an expensive project to undertake and they decided financing is the best option and didn’t want to use the banks.
We all know that children are the future. However for some, child care can be a great and profitable business venture today!
We recently started working with Michelle, who has always had a passion for children and has a knack for running her own business, which is why when she realised that there was no local competition in her area (with the nearest being 2 towns away), she decided to set up a soft play centre, called KidMania.
In June 2013, partners Cherell & Robert Humphries took over an existing Soft Play business. The business itself was failing, however the Humphries managed to turn it around and make it successful.
Since their purchase, Cherell and Robert have only ever invested their own cash to develop the business, and no previous finance had been obtained.
When it comes to play facilities in Exmouth, there is a distinct lack of options available. Despite the area surrounding the town centre having 7 primary schools and the largest secondary school in the country, there had been a gap in the market of child play centre.
That was, until Kate Beverley took advantage of the gap and formed her own soft play centre called Sam’s Funhouse.
Business partners Latif Dal and Rick Gwilliam put together a comprehensive plan that runs through the details of why their new start Play Centre will be a success – these chaps have done their homework!
When they requested some assistance it was an easy decision for Johnson Reed. Located in a village with small competition and massive opportunity, they negotiated good terms with the landlord of up to 6 months free rent for a 8,000 sqft. unit, with a 15 year lease in a key location in town next to Tesco and the main train station.
The Run and Jump indoor play centre is a new and exciting children’s soft play arena based in Wigan. Set up by Regan and Steve, the centre caters to children from the ages of 0 – 12, and promises a fun-filled, clean, and safe environment.
Open 7 days a week, the centre boasts a 4 metre, 3 lane wavy slide, ball shower, Astro glide, plus a lot more! For the more sports-minded, there is also a football and basketball court available, and even a separate toddler play area for under 4s. They group have also started offering birthday parties and events for groups of kids, and even organise the booking of themed mascots from a local business! For the patient parents, there is also a cafe for drinks and free wi-fi.
Having successfully established his brand in Ruswarp, near the North Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby, Brian Moore has taken the plunge to open a second Mini Monsterz site, in Scarborough. He tells Indoor Play why now is the right time to expand and why he went back to previous partners to help facilitate the new site
When Little Hoppers closed its doors in Scarborough in April, it was the second of the town’s indoor play areas to shut in 12 months. Located in an industrial estate on the edge of the sleepy seaside resort, the 9,000 square foot facility was taken over on a 20-year lease and re-opened after a significant cash injection as the second in the Mini Monsterz stable of family entertainment centres.