Timezone plans expansion as shopping malls look to entertainment

Perth-based multi-national amusement business Timezone has signed off on a massive expansion program for its network of family entertainments centres.

Having gone through a management restructure last year, the debt-free company is looking to double its number of locations across Australia and Asia, meeting demand from shopping centre owners who want to expand their entertainment offering in order to attract patronage.

Once dubbed ‘crimezone’, the FEC network had an uninviting brand image in Australia over a number of years, with concerns about associated crime activities event leading Melbourne City Council to consider a ban on arcardes in the late 1990s. (Timezone voluntarily pulled out of Melbourne CBD in 2003, six years after the Lord Mayor requested a ban.)

Also facing the challenge of online and in-home gaming, Timezone, which once had about 50 FECs in Australia, started closing outlets in the 1990s.

At the same time the Group expanded in Asia – where it now operates over 150 centres: eight in Singapore, 25 in India, 50 in the Philippines and 70 in Indonesia.

As a result, just 25% of its revenue comes from Australia, where it now has 21 facilities.

Having seen their annual revenue grow at double digit rates in existing stores, Timezone opened five new stores in 2016 and now plans to double its network across Australia and Asia.

Timezone Chairman and part-owner, Adam Steinberg, said told Fairfax media that the Group is seeing "incredible resurgence in demand for out of home entertainment".

He recalled "look at the '70s and '80s when Timezone had a heyday as a gamers paradise.

"It was all about where to play the latest and greatest games. Now Timezone has positioned itself as the place to go with your friends and family."

With the expansion, Steinberg stated that all the new stores will be owned by the family company, continuing “we are not going to grow any further through franchising," adding there were still six franchises in the existing network.

"Frankly, we would probably look at options to bring that back to the company-owned network should the opportunity arrive".

Key to the expansion is shopping mall owners in Australia following a global trend of wanting FECs to encourage visits by families and children, looking to attract both impulse and destination visits.

The new FECs are bigger, brighter and have more variety. While older stores were about 400 metre², the new stores need up to 2000 metre² to accommodate bowling alleys, laser tag, electric cars and rides.

Timezone is also using swipe cards to collect exact information about customers and games.

As Blume adds "swipe cards are nice and consumer friendly, but the real reason we use them is to get the data on what the machines contribute and what the best mix of them is to maximise revenue.”

Images: Mini-bowling at the new Timezone Werribee (top), Adam Steinberg (middle) and Timezone staff (below).

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