The Hindu Business Line : Indoor wonderland

The `drop-n-shop' concept seems to be going places. And soon you may have an entire chain of what the promoters call `indoor wonderlands' all over the country.

A concept replicated from Singapore in June 2000 by Taru Kanwar (wife of Apollo Tyres' Managing Director O.S. Kanwar), it started with the Funkie Orbits playstation for children in New Delhi's Ansal Plaza. The whole idea was to drop your children at the playstation, so that you can shop in peace while they enjoy themselves climbing, sliding, crawling and having fun.

This month, another one has opened up at AEZ Square, West Delhi's shopping mall in Vikaspuri. This time, the playstation has the `Space' theme to give children the experience of the galaxy and the adventure of space travel. It's also equipped with the typical playstation equipment including a spiral slide, a vision adventure panel to view wild animals and a bouncy ball pool.

In August, Taru Kanwar and her son Raaja Kanwar, are setting up one in Mumbai. Venues at Bangalore and Chennai are also being explored.

While this time round the investment into Funkie Orbits has been two-and-a-half crore, the investment at the Ansal Plaza venue was around two crore. It took the company a mere 18 months to break even. "We're waiting for the concept to mature, and who knows we may even open playstations overseas, in the Middle-East and Sri Lanka," says Raaja Kanwar.

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Indoor wonderland