The owners of a Glasgow soft play have told how they were 'running at a loss' after opening during lockdown.
Fun Street was set to open its doors at Silverburn shopping centre in March 2020 just as the country went into lockdown as the pandemic first took hold.
The £2 million soft play remained closed until October when restrictions were eased enough to allow some interactive activities to be used before closing again during the second wave of the pandemic.
Owners Dr Usman Qureshi and wife Shafea pressed ahead with their plans and were able to keep 40 staff on throughout the pandemic.
Speaking two years after the UK first went into lockdown, Usman admitted he ‘feared the worst’ at times during the pandemic as regulations strangled the sector.
He said: “The restrictions were quite unfair. There was funding from the government, but it was in no way comparable to what we needed to survive. Some businesses operating in a similar sector – such as trampoline parks – had an unfair advantage, soft play was slaughtered.
"We survived because things (the worst of the pandemic) ended in time. Had it gone on any longer, I don’t know what might have happened.
“We were running at a loss, but we wanted to offer whatever we could to customers who had been waiting for us to open.
“We also had staff we’d just taken on, and we wanted to ensure they still had jobs. While some people did leave due to their own circumstances, we didn’t let go of a single member of staff, which is something we’re very proud of and was important to creating the culture we wanted."
He added: "There were points when I didn’t think we’d make it through. Everything was under a lot of strain. However, through faith in ourselves and help from our business associates – including understanding from our landlord Silverburn – we made it through and the success we are having is a glimmer of light. It helps us see how worth it our perseverance has been.
“The customer confidence we saw during the periods when we could open gave us the encouragement we needed to carry on. We knew we were on to something and had to see it through when we were so close to the finish line.”
Fun Street is now welcoming several hundred visitors per month to their family-entertainment venue that includes exhibitions, sensory play, and yoga for children.
Although Covid regulations affecting soft play are still limiting trade, Fun Street is now welcoming several hundred visitors per month, something Usman puts down to one of the biggest lessons he learned from the pandemic – adaptability.
Usman added: “We were never simply going to be a soft play – that was always only part of what we wanted to offer. Shafea’s vision for Fun Street was always that it should be more like a theme park, and the aim has always been to elevate our attractions and offer more than anywhere else – which was the inspiration for the extra attractions like the interactive zone and augmented reality.
“The pandemic has taught us that we need to be even more adaptable, constantly adapting to what customers want and that’s why we’ve become like event managers since.
“It’s really encouraging to see people liking our offering and I’m confident now about the future. We’re getting near what we originally anticipated. There are still restrictions, and the pandemic isn’t really over, but we are feeling encouraged and optimistic
“There’s a lesson for the whole industry from this. You can’t simply say ‘this is what we do, take it or leave it.’ You have to offer more.”
