Sky Zone, a chain of indoor trampoline parks, will be bouncing into more locations, possibly vacant stores, when it opens eight new sites in places including metropolitan New York and Chicago.
The Provo, Utah-based company's roster of new homes for its parks, featuring fields of trampolines and gear for other activities, reflects how uses of retail space keep expanding beyond stores. Sky Zone — founded in 2004 as Sky Zone Trampoline Park — owns, operates and franchises over 270 parks. It caters to kids under 12 years old.
In the past, it has opened some locations in vacant big-box stores and plans to do so in the future, according to a company spokeswoman.
"Sky Zone’s unique and innovative parks require a large footprint, roughly around 30,000 square feet, so many of our franchisees are looking to lease larger commercial buildings and former retail spaces, such as big-box stores," she said in an email to CoStar News.
That's all part of the trend of mall and shopping center landlords looking to new types of tenants — such as entertainment venues, hotels, healthcare providers and grocers — to fill empty anchor space at their properties.
Sky Zone last year leased — taking 35,386 square feet — at a former Buy Buy Baby site on Chicago's North Side at 1419 N. Kingsbury St., within the Kingsbury Center. The baby goods chain was shuttered after its parent, Bed Bath & Beyond, filed for Chapter 11 and failed to find a buyer last year.
And later this year, Sky Zone is slated to open at a former Nordstrom store at the Clackamas Town Center in Portland, Oregon, according to The Oregonian. It is leasing 49,760 square feet.
Regarding the latest round of openings, multiunit franchise owner Roger Duncan is expanding his portfolio with new Sky Zone parks in Pennsylvania and Alsip and Bedford, both in Illinois. He acquired a competitor's park in eastern Pennsylvania, at 2800 Baglyos Circle in Bethlehem, that was converted into a Sky Zone and reopened earlier this month, according to the company spokeswoman. Duncan is also developing two new parks in the Chicago metro area, set to debut in the third quarter next year.
New Sky Zone centers are also slated for Langhorne and Exton, both in Pennsylvania. Local residents and pharmacy owners Kinjal and Purvish Patel are set to open their first Sky Zone locations in those two cities in the fourth quarter next year, according to the spokeswoman.
The Sky Zone openings include one planned for Chantilly, Virginia, in the fourth quarter next year.
In Bakersfield, California, multiunit Sky Zone franchisee Mohammed Zia and first-time franchisee Harinder Garcha are partnering to open that Golden State location. It is scheduled to bow in the first quarter 2026, and will mark the ninth park in Zia's portfolio. In that same quarter, first-time franchisee Jesus Horton is slated to open a Sky Zone at 4720 Third Ave. in the Bronx, New York, according to the spokeswoman.
In California, Illinois, Exton and Virginia, the franchisees are actively scouting real estate, the spokeswoman said.