Escape niche tapped

Escape Room impressed the judges of the Powercor Geelong Business Excellence Awards, placing as a finalist in the categories for Micro Business 1-3 Employees, Tourism & Hospitality, and Emerging Business – Under 3 Years,
After a completing an escape room activity centre in Melbourne in 2015, a group of Geelong locals had the idea of bringing the concept back to their home town.
They loved the experience, especially the thrill of solving all the puzzles and the exhilaration of ‘escaping’ from the challenging room.
The future business partners believed they had identified a gap in the Geelong market for an all-ages, socially interactive activity.
After months of planning and research, Escape Room Geelong (ERG) was born, with a plan put in place to open the venue by Christmas 2015.
An important decision was choosing and securing a strategic location to open the city’s first escape room.
Their first foray into the business world was not easy, working full-time jobs with limited funds and time along with some broken bones and a pressing deadline to open.
However, the operators overcame all the obstacles to open in January 2016.
The business took a risk in a non-existing marketplace, relying on passion and self-belief as the driving forces.
Geelong’s first an interactive puzzle room designed for all ages reaches a broad demographic, stipulating no alcohol, no dress code, and no discrimination.
The small, owner/operator, home-based business now has two directors working part-time in Geelong and as part of the Escape Room Melbourne group, allowing for the use of branding and cross-promotion between both venues.