By KATIE INGRAM
A new playground in Bedford is bringing the benefits of outside play to kids, on days when they can’t go outside.
Happy Kids Indoor Playground was developed from an idea Chao Shi had after he and his wife settled in Halifax. The business opened in late 2015.
“Once we had our daughter, we started thinking about our future in Canada and we found there weren’t many places like this,” says Shi. ““The winter is long and boring, so we wanted to create a fun place for kids.”
There are other indoor playgrounds in Halifax, like Hop! Skip! Jump!in Bayers Lake, but Shi wanted to bring a bit more of home to Halifax, specifically the Bedford area.
“In China there are a lot of [indoor] playgrounds, but here there isn’t much,” he says. “We picked this location because there are a lot of families that live here and it is a large community.”
While Happy Kids might be called a playground, it is designed to be much more than that.
“Our playground is just like a theme park,” he says. “We have an ‘ocean playground’ with our water slide, the ball pit [which] has a pirate ship and our party room has fish around it.”
There are also, among other things, spinning plates, a climbing wall, tunnels, mirror mazes and a “triangle obstacles.”
Shi admits he was nervous when deciding whether or not open Happy Kids. A graduate of Saint Mary’s University with a degree in marketing, he had no prior business experience and wasn’t sure how to approach the idea.
“We worried about how the business would go and how to manage it,” he says. “Fortunately I have four partners who help me a lot.”
The decision has proven to be worthwhile.
“In just two months we’ve gotten 3500 clicks [on our Facebook page],” he says.“I wouldn’t have imagined that because I was worried about how we would do.”
Happy Kids is not just popular among parents and caregivers, but kids as well.
“Some of the kids start to cry when we say we are closing,” says Shi.
The company has also seen a lot of interest in their birthday party packages. As of January they were already booking parties for March.
Shi says he not only owes Happy Kids success to his partners’ business insight, but also his customers. Customers will provide him with feedback and are sure to tell him if they like or dislike some part of the Happy Kids experience.
After all, Halifax has become his and his family’s home. Happy Kids has become a way to give back to a community that has not only supported his business endeavours, but his family as well.
“Halifax isn’t like a bigger city like Toronto or Montreal, but I like the pace of the city; it’s nice and slow,” says Shi. “The local people are really friendly and supportive.”
Happy Kids is designed for kids aged 13 and under and is open seven days a week. For more information visit: http://happykidshalifax.ca/
又有一个好地方可以专门溜小孩啦! Happy Kids室内亲子游乐园近期在Bedford区开幕。
圣玛丽大学毕业生史超与妻子定居哈利法克斯后，想到了开办室内儿童乐园这个创业点子。于是，2015年年尾，就有了Happy Kids Indoor Playground。
“自从有了女儿后，我们开始了对未来生活的规划。我们发现这个城市没有太多给孩子提供玩乐的空间。” 史超接着说：“这里冬天这么漫长，我们想为孩子们提供一个新鲜有趣且安全的活动场所。”
哈法市内也有几所室内儿童乐园，譬如位于Bayers Lake的Hop! Skip! Jump!，但史超觉得这里还需要多几个这样供孩子们玩耍的地方，尤其是在他生活的Bedford区。
“国内有很多亲子乐园，但这里并不多见。”他说。“我们把生意开到Bedford，是因为这里是家庭居住的聚集地。”
史超对乐园的创建和运行模式也颇有想法。
“Happy Kids既是亲子乐园，又是个主题公园。”他介绍道。“我们有宽敞舒适的空间，有‘海洋乐园’水滑梯、海洋球池、海盗船，还有一间装饰着海洋鱼的派对屋。”
“除此之外，我们还有旋转盘、攀岩墙、隧道、镜子迷宫和“三角障碍”等设施，非常适合活动力十足的小朋友来消耗体力。”
史超坦言，他一开始也不确定到底要不要运营Happy Kids。作为一名市场营销专业的毕业留学生，他没什么生意经验，也不太了解这里的创业流程。
“我们开始时很担心，不知道是否能把生意做成功。做生意有很多棘手的问题要处理，譬如如何管理等等。”他说。“幸运的是，我的生意伙伴给了我许多帮助。”
这个生意点子在后来看的确是可行的。
“开幕后仅两个月，我们Facebook的主页的点击率久高达3500次。”他说。“这是我没想到的，因为我在开始的时候过于担心。”
Happy Kids不仅仅受到了社区家长们的欢迎，孩子们也特别喜欢这个新的玩乐空间。
“有时我们到了关门的时候，经常有孩子因为舍不得走而大哭起来。”史超笑着说。
乐园的生日派对套餐特别受欢迎。今年一月份的时候，第一季度的生日派对套餐就已经全部定满。
史超表示，Happy Kids目前的成绩离不开生意伙伴们的支持，更离不开客户的宝贵意见和体验反馈。
他还说，哈利法克斯已经成为他和家人的第二故乡。对于他而言，Happy Kids不仅仅是生意，也是他回馈社区的一个平台。
“哈法不是多伦多或蒙特利尔这类的大城市，但我非常喜欢这座城市的安逸。它的慢节奏让人觉得舒适。生活在这里的人们都非常友好和热情。”
Happy Kids亲子乐园为13及13岁以下的孩子一周七天开放。想了解更多关于乐园的情况，可以访问：www.happykidshalifax.ca
