Was it the recession, the tax system in New York, a bad location or a combination of all three that led to the temporary closure of an FEC called TreePaad this past week? From the looks of it, both don’t help according to an article in the Poststar that discusses the hard choices that the owner of TreePaad has had to make as business has slowed down and they have had to jump through the hoops that NY state puts in the way of getting tax credits. Despite the difficulties stated, the owners do intend to re-open the business at another 
location sometime in the future but until then the 22 people the company employed are out of work and the equipment for the business is going into storage. It’s worth noting that in 2007, TreePaad won an award from the IALEI for the Best Creative Party Package for birthdays.
I can understand the dilemma they are in. Right now with my own arcade, things are slow as we have to compete with many other activities people can choose from and on top of that consumers are being more picky about what they spend their money on for entertainment. It’s great that from the sounds of it Treepaad won’t be closed permanently but you have to wonder, with the economy looking to stay in the doldrums for a while longer how long it will be until they will be able to jump back in and try again.
[Via Poststar.com] [Discuss on the forums]
