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The Zone closing March 29th
Danny Gallagher/McKinney Courier-Gazette - The Zone of McKinney on Custer Road will close for good in less than two weeks due to a drastic decrease in business.
McKinney's last locally owned kids' entertainment venue going out of business in less than two weeks.
By Danny Gallagher, McKinney Courier-Gazette
One of McKinney's last remaining entertainment venues for kids that also been home to many McKinney ISD events and fund raisers will cease to exist after next Sunday.
Ginni Madonna, the Zone's marketing director, said the operators of the four year-plus business faced a lot of challenges and the recent "difficult financial times" just became too much for the company to bear on its shoulders.
"Some of it was, and I don't know if this is the politically correct thing to say, the lack of construction of Custer Road," Madonna said. "There were projects that we were told were going to be done awhile ago and never got done, so that became a hindrance. When the property was purchased five years ago, we were told things would be fully developed out there within a matter of two to three years and clearly, it hasn't been."
The lack of visibility from Custer Road and W. Virginia Parkway also made it hard to attract new customers, Madonna said.
"We didn't have drive-by visibility," Madonna said. "There was no traffic really and when they started the construction on the road late, it was a bit of a hindrance for people to feel to come to [us]."
Attendance and reservations had also fallen in the business' final months. Madonna said the company had 35 percent fewer birthday party and corporate room reservations in the last year.
"October really seemed to just turn on a dime," Madonna said. "We had been gradually going down and some of that was to be expect. August was very slow with people getting ready to go back to school, but it was a slower than usual August and that momentum just kept going."
The Hillmans eventually filed for bankruptcy protection to keep their business from going under, but the financial constraints grew too much, Madonna said.
"They're upset it didn't work. They're vision was to have a family entertainment center in McKinney for McKinney and the fact that vision didn't work was just sad to them," Madonna said. "They truly put everything into that place. They gave up their previous professions and put a lot of hours in that were just crazy hours, so this is a tough loss for them."
The Zone will remain open during normal their normal business hours until their closing day. Madonna said the owners will hold a "Thank You" discount for their customers with $5 tickets good for all-day Laser Tag rounds and single token arcade games.
The news of the Zone's closing came as a big surprise to several customers who took their kids to jump around in the bounce house or play a few video games during their Spring Break vacation.
"I'm surprised, I thought this was a success," said a mother from Fannin County who only wished to identify herself as "Julie." "My kids have always had a good time here. They are 6, 9 and 12 and there was always things for all of them to do."
Jolene Ose of McKinney said Friday's visit to the Zone with her kids was their first visit in the last six months when the Dowell Middle School Orchestra held a get-together to celebrate their success season. The Zone has been home to several McKinney ISD fundraiser and events including an annual haunted house to raise money for the district's drama clubs.
"It's a shame," Ose said. "I think it's a nice place for kids to be able to come and hang out…[My kids' orchestra] have been going to a skating place in Plano for their events. I don't know the reason why but it's much harder to go out of town when you're working and the drive is especially hard on a weeknight. It was nice that something like this was in town."
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Susan H wrote on Mar 22, 2009 1:53 PM:
" It is a shame, but the bottom line is WE did not support them like we should. Now we all have to find somewhere else for our kids to go and have fun and still be in a safe environment. It always makes me sad to see a great business have to shut its doors, especially when they have done so much for the community. Shame on us. "
cy wrote on Mar 22, 2009 4:50 PM:
" The constuction at Custer and Virgnia is hardly the reason the zone is closing. The couple who own the place ran a very unorganized and chaotic business. For goodness sake - a pub opened up right next door with no restroom so the drinking customers have to come into The Zone (which is for kids) and use the restroom! I showed up with my child for a week long camp early one morning only to find they had told me the wrong start date - the owner looked at me and said come back next week - we told you wrong. No apology whatsoever! Hope somebody who knows what they're doing takes over! "
JQ wrote on Mar 22, 2009 6:11 PM:
" It's a shame when any business doesn't last, but one only has to review TxDot's website to see the schedule for Custer, and it was never a project that was supposed to be completed prior to 2010.
Methinks somebody believed their commercial real estate agent instead of doing their own due diligence. "
Methinks somebody believed their commercial real estate agent instead of doing their own due diligence. "
Party Guy wrote on Mar 22, 2009 8:00 PM:
" This is a shame. If any school, church or others have a party scheduled at the Zone, please contact me at www.prosperpartyplace.com I am the owner and would love to help out any way I can.
Best of luck to the owners of the Zone. I don't enjoy seeing a small business go under. Competitor or not.
David "
Best of luck to the owners of the Zone. I don't enjoy seeing a small business go under. Competitor or not.
David "
Tracey L Campisi wrote on Mar 22, 2009 11:09 PM:
" I wish we, as a family and a community would have known this was happening sooner! I feel if we were aware of their distress, the community could have stepped up and made a difference!
I take my family their EVERY Thursday night, and sometimes we have the Zone Pizza twice in the same week! Love the pizza, and love the convienience. Now where will we take the kids for laser tag, pizza and video games!!! where can we go now that is less then 2 miles away! NO WHERE! "
I take my family their EVERY Thursday night, and sometimes we have the Zone Pizza twice in the same week! Love the pizza, and love the convienience. Now where will we take the kids for laser tag, pizza and video games!!! where can we go now that is less then 2 miles away! NO WHERE! "
Rowdy wrote on Mar 23, 2009 6:26 AM:
" That is a shame. But the structure of this place makes it a location for parties and events. I have taken my kids there a couple of times, but would have taken them there more if the prices were not astronomical. I never left there for under $100.00. That's not a place I could take my kids each weekend or after school for some fun. The talk of the town were they were way overpriced. "
mom23boys wrote on Mar 24, 2009 3:00 PM:
" I had my sons birthday party there and was not impressed!! Very unorganized and the kids running it didn't now how to handle eight 7 year olds - very diastisifed . Also they were way overprised as someone else mentioned - and the pizza was not that good. "
Frank wrote on Mar 25, 2009 9:27 PM:
" Well, the business will continue since some new owners' are in place. I really think these guys have a clue how to run the place and will make the right changes. The original and previous owners are very nice people, but I believe they did not have an understanding about the customers needs. "
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The lesson learned from this experience is to NEVER, EVER make a significant, life changing financial decision on what developers and city officials may tell you about "surrounding development". Developers WLL LIE to get you to sign on the dotted line! Public officials will lie and then point fingers at someone else!
Unfortunately, we will be seeing more local business failures in the future as poor economic conditions persist. "