On Gift Certificates in 2020
“Are you still going to be in business when we go to redeem them?”
This isn’t a “frequently asked question” because it would be bit rude to ask and you’re all too polite for that, but it’s a question that everyone asks themselves this year as they buy gift certificates from a small company, this year in particular.
We want to address this directly. It’s been a slow year for us, obviously, and things haven’t come back as quickly as we’d like.
However, we have some unique advantages that have really helped us during the pandemic.
We’re only open for business when we have games booked, which means that once the rent and other fixed expenses are paid, when we have no games booked, we’re not losing money.
Escape Key went dark for a few months early this year but we opened up again when it was deemed safe, and as a family business we still have the same staff, the same team that designs, builds and runs our games.
The various government programs that helped small businesses this year did a lot to keep us paying the bills.
One of the reasons we started Escape Key is because families and groups of friends in Brantford need things to do. We lost GameTime recently, and the other escape rooms that have opened here have shut down, a loss to our community. After a year of avoiding people, everyone wants to get back out there and start having fun again.
We know that 2021 is going to be a much better year than 2020 and we’re going to be here for it. We hope we’ll see you!