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White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, Kansas City, MO, USA

A different point of view. Can FECs be all things to all people? A response

In March, Randy White, our CEO, posted a blog (www.whitehutchinson.com/ blog/ 2019/ 03/ the-overexpansion-of-clvs-especially-fecs-is-sheer-folly/ ) about the overexpansion of FECs and how “There is a basic problem with the classic FEC model that continues to be developed - the formula of having attractions that appeal to everyone, to children of all ages, to families with children and to adults. Over the almost three decades since that formula first appeared, there's been an expansion and segmentation of community leisure venue (CLV) types targeting specific niche demographic groups and types of activities. So, while in the early days of FECs the formula to target everyone generated adequate attendance revenues by also appealing to adults, since adults had so few other out-of-home entertainment options, today there are all types of entertainment venues specially targeting adults rather than families... FECs have basically lost the adult market, a part of the attendance they once had that made them a viable concept.” (read the blog at https://bit.ly/2YjYdIN).

Randy posted a notice of his blog on LinkedIn and there has been a lot of industry dialogue, where a general consensus formed that focused CLV concepts are the future and multi-attraction, wide-appeal facilities, traditional FECs, can't keep up.

In article in the May issue of RePlay Magazine, George McAuliffe, a highly experienced and respected industry veteran, took issue with that viewpoint. George basically argued two things:

• Focused-niche concepts are not uniformly successful
• In today's marketplace, there are many examples of successful concepts that appeal to a wide audience

So, Randy responded to George's arguments in an article that appeared the July 2019 issue of RePlay Magazine which you can read by clicking here (www.whitehutchinson.com/ leisure/ articles/ downloads/ different-point-of-view.pdf) .

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