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Shopping Centers Today -> July 2002
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EXPORT CHILD’S PLAY FOR MEXICAN THEME PARK
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| Corporate sponsors woo some young customers. |
Not all the retail concepts crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are moving in a southerly direction.
A Mexican theme park, Kids City, plans to bring its world for children to the United States, to Palisades Center in Nyack, N.Y. Other locations are set to follow, both in the United States and Europe.
Targeted at children between 2 and 12 years old, Mexico City-based Kids City is a theme park concept that allows them to play at being adults.
“It’s unique,” said Ruben Cors, a principal of Kids City International, Mexico City. “We’re breaking the rules of traditional entertainment.”
Kids City allows children to engage in role-playing on an elaborate set. The theme park re-creates a city, complete with airport, hospitals and stores, city streets, a town square and even suburbs. Youngsters who arrive and wish to rent a car (an operational buggy) to get around must first visit a “Department of Motor Vehicles” to pick up a driver’s license.
“We created a city where kids play the roles we live in real life,” Cors explained. “Kids pretend to be reporters. They earn pretend money. It’s creating what we all experience.”
Children are given a “check” for 300 “pesitos” as they enter the park. Their first stop must be at the bank to cash the check for play money. After that, they pick their activities. If they run out of cash, they must find a way to earn more for their activities, food, beverages and merchandise.
Visitors can play at being doctors, dentists, hair stylists, television producers, car dealers, bakers and archaeologists, among other jobs. They can even paint the inside of a house or build a wall. Or they can play at being simply consumers: The park includes a sports stadium, a theater, a climbing wall and whitewater rafting. Activities are housed in several pavilions, which are scaled-down replicas of their real-life counterparts. The hospital, for instance, includes an operating room, an emergency room and a nursery.
Customers fall into four segments, Cors said, each of which uses the facility at different times: Families with children use the space on Friday nights and weekends, while school trips occupy it on weekday mornings. Birthday parties are held on weekday afternoons, and weeknights see Kids City rented out by corporations for special occasions and for the families of their employees.
Admission in Mexico is $12 for children and $6 for adults, a substantial sum there. In the United States the fee will be $24 for children and $12 for adults.
Each pavilion has a corporate sponsor. The fast-food franchise is a Burger King, the supermarket a Wal-Mart, the car dealer a General Motors. Local partners include Televisa (the television studio) and Reforma (the newspaper).
“We construct, design, build and operate the facility,” said Xavier Lopez, president of Kids City International. “For [the corporations] it’s a marketing tool.”
The first unit opened at the Santa Fe Business, Commercial and Shopping Center, Mexico City, in September 1999, with 52,000 square feet. A second unit has since opened in the western section of the city. The Palisades Center location will open in 2004. Other likely U.S. locations include Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
 | Current Issue November 2008 |