Business wants to serve booze to survive
Energyplex looking to add video arcade, lounge
Trampolines have been removed from an indoor recreation centre and are to be replaced by a video arcade and licensed lounge under plans that will be considered next week by Kelowna city council.
Operators of the Energyplex at the McCurdy Plaza strip mall say they need to get a liquor licence to make the business — hard hit by COVID-19 — profitable going forward.
“We need to increase our revenue in order to bounce back to a viable business,” Energyplex owner Erik Brouwer writes in a letter to the city.
The building covers about 23,000 square feet and includes kid-friendly features such as a rock-climbing area, a cube-style, four-level playground, and a ball-shooting pit.
About 3,600 square feet is devoted to gymnastics, and it’s this area that is proposed for transformation into a video arcade and 60-person licensed lounge that would be open until 11 p.m.
“Research has shown us of a very successful entertainment centre concept in the United States where the business focuses on activities for all ages and opens during the evening hours,” Brouwer writes.
“The critical success factor is the presence of a sizable arcade in combination with a bar/lounge,” he says.
Opened in 2008, the Energyplex was not profitable for three years, Brouwer says.
Between 2011 and 2018, revenues rose 180 per cent. Since then, however, the business has been beset by challenges such as a tripling in annual insurance premiums to $75,000, a current lease rate of $250,000, mild weather that limited attendance, and negative publicity about trampoline parks and their potential to cause injuries.
This year, those problems have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced a three-month shutdown. Although the Energyplex has re-opened, physical distancing regulations have limited capacity and led to “extreme revenue declines,” says Brouwer.
At a meeting next Tuesday, city councillors will decide whether to support the request for a liquor licence, but the final decision is up to the provincial government.