{"id":82,"date":"2011-02-07T16:04:37","date_gmt":"2011-02-07T21:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whitehutchinson.com\/blog\/?p=82"},"modified":"2011-02-07T16:04:37","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T21:04:37","slug":"it%e2%80%99s-time-to-kill-the-family-entertainment-center-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whitehutchinson.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/it%e2%80%99s-time-to-kill-the-family-entertainment-center-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to kill the family entertainment center industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now don\u2019t panic. I\u2019m not suggesting we close the centers. What I am suggesting is that it\u2019s time to do away with the inappropriate industry term for the type of venues that the FEC industry claims to represent. Using family entertainment center<\/em> to apply to centers that do not primarily target the family market is misleading. Children\u2019s entertainment and children\u2019s edutainment centers are not family entertainment centers. Adult venues such as Dave & Buster\u2019s are not family entertainment centers.<\/p>\n

Another industry term that needs to be killed is \u2018location-based entertainment,\u2019 a term that attempts to describe a broader range of venues including theme parks and tourist attractions.<\/p>\n

The problem with both industry terms is the word \u2018entertainment.\u2019 By definition, entertainment is a passive activity. Watching a movie is entertainment. Riding go-karts is not entertainment. Nor is bowling, nor soft play structures, nor bumper cars, nor miniature golf, nor riding a roller coaster, nor gamerooms. These are all active, participatory forms of amusement, recreation and play.<\/p>\n

My first suggestion is that we start by using a more appropriate and broader term for all these type activities \u2013 leisure <\/em>\u2013 and describe the broad variety of out-of-home facilities as location-based leisure (LBL). Then I suggest we categorize the industry based basically on the markets the different types of LBLs cater to:<\/p>\n

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  1. Community-Based Leisure<\/strong> \u2013 these facilities tend to have a 1.5- to 2.5-hour length-of-stays. They attract the bulk of their business from residents in the surrounding community and are highly dependent on repeat business. Examples include cinemas, true family-oriented leisure centers (FECs), bowling centers, skate centers, children\u2019s leisure centers, adult leisure venues such as Dave & Buster\u2019s and bocce centers, and pizza buffet\/entertainment centers.<\/li>\n
  2. Regional Leisure Attractions<\/strong> \u2013 these facilities draw from a regional resident market that might include an entire major metropolitan area or a number of smaller cities and communities and come in two varieties:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n