I feel bad for the people that thought of the trampoline park idea. It was a really good idea. But it’s not a defensible idea. If any person wanted to put up a trampoline park they certainly could. And that’s seemingly what is happening. I live in an area that couldn’t support a 4 screen movie theater. In fact the most convenient movie theater about 10 miles away hollowed out some space for a trampoline park. But I just read that my area is going to get a new trampoline park. The existing park has another competitor already in a suburb closer to Pittsburgh. Effectively the first park with the movie theater has been surrounded. In fact in total within a half an hour drive from my house I will be able to get to 4 different trampoline parks.
I get that capital expenses to open up a park are front loaded. Running them day to day probably means very little new investment. So if a facility can cover rent, labor, maintenance, and marketing they can survive. So the death should be a slow one. And there will be a few survivors, much like there are a few roller skating rinks here and there even today. But in the long run the industry has overbuilt and I feel bad for the early movers that are watching the newbies coming in and splitting the market. There’s nothing they can do about it.