The international play centre brand Chipmunks Playland and Cafe, of which Charlie is the mascot, has undergone a major revamp and is preparing to launch its newly designed flagship store in Brewtown, Wellington in December. It is hoped to launch it in the United States next year.
It marks a new beginning for the brand, which first opened with a store in Christchurch in 1996. It now has stores throughout New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia.
This week, founder Lance Spence, who is based in Chipmunk’s Port Chalmers headquarters, said Covid-19 had given some breathing space and provided an opportunity to rejuvenate the brand and "take it to the next level".
"We’re really excited. The brand has evolved many times — this store [Brewtown] will be a new experience. It’s like starting Chipmunks from scratch again," he said.
Today’s children wanted modern, high-end facilities and the new Brewtown store — featuring a 1000sqm play land — had newly designed layout and equipment. It was a lot more interactive and was the largest play structure Chipmunks had, he said.
The design had been tailored to have softer edges throughout the centre to make it more inviting to younger customers — the target market was 0-11 — while new safety zones had also been incorporated.
A store would open in Napier after Christmas and two more stores in Australia, in Newcastle and Brisbane, were also pending. There was also a lot of interest from potential franchise holders.
His goal had always been to open in the US and the move had been held off due to Covid-19, Mr Spence said. He expected it would likely open in Austin or Dallas first.
He saw a real opportunity in the US as there was not a lot of competition. Potentially, there could also be opportunities in Europe down the track.
Ironically, given Otago was Chipmunks’ home, there was no store in Dunedin since it closed in March 2021 when the lease of its Princes St premises came to an end, Mr Spence said.
That had been "very frustrating" as Chipmunks would like to have a store in the city if the appropriate site could be found, Mr Spence said. A location had previously been identified but the Dunedin City Council said it was zoned industrial and Chipmunks could not operate there.
It was very difficult to find a site and he believed young families were missing out in the city. Many families were shifting to Dunedin, with the various work going on in the city, and there was "nothing for kids to do".
Chipmunks did not need to be in a shopping centre; all it needed was good car-parking and safe access. He felt there needed to be more positivity about people investing in the city — in particular, he felt sorry for small businesses endeavouring to open — and it should be made easier for them, he said.
He was a keen supporter of local businesses; signage was all done by Williams Signs in Dunedin, and printing by Digiart, which was nearby in Port Chalmers.
While it would continue to operate from Port Chalmers, Chipmunks was thinking about shifting a team to Australia and setting up an office in Brisbane. Continuing to grow internationally was the business’ vision and too much hard work had gone into it to contemplate selling it, Mr Spence said.
While Covid had affected business in-store, particularly in Australia, demand was back above pre-Covid levels and stores were getting "very good turnover". He felt it was important to keep it affordable to continue to attract children and their families.
Chipmunks brand manager Joshua Fryer said he looked at the new branding from the perspective of a child, and identifying what a child wanted to see.
Charlie Chipmunk himself, despite being around for more than two decades, continued to have a lot of brand power, he said.
