The family entertainment centre (FEC) concept is witnessing evolutionary change today. Big may no longer necessarily be the best anymore, with traditional onesize-fits-all leisure centres for the entire family giving way to more age-specific components as mall owners find it difficult to redesign and rejig the huge, inflexible indoor theme parks they had been building earlier every time they wanted to introduce new entertainment concepts to replace the older ones that are proving increasingly passé for mall visitors.
There’s also the not-so-easy-to-overlook burden of huge fixed costs they incur to maintain these gargantuan showpieces. The trend today is to break down leisure and entertainment concepts into smaller niche facilities themed for and targeted at specific age-groups in the family such as teenagers, children, infants and their mothers and so on.