Ice rink warms up sales

As the temperature drops post holidays, so do sales at many independent garden centers. Brothers Zbynek and John Zidlicky, who own The Garden Faire in Oswego, Ill., were brainstorming ways to draw customers in during the slower months and talking over ideas with friends.

As a joke, someone suggested they build an ice rink. But the Zidlickys thought it was a great idea. John had the background. He used to work for the nearby Naperville Park district, and one of his responsibilities was overseeing the community ice skating rink. And the ice rink that used to be in Oswego closed about two decades ago, so there weren’t any places to skate in the area anymore.

For the past few years, after John and Zbynek clear out the Christmas trees and pine needles at their downtown store, they create a winter playground of sorts for kids.

“The first year we only had the ice rink open about a week and a half because the weather was so warm,” Zbynek says. “But last year, we had 350 to 400 kids use it.”

The rink is about 60 feet by 70 feet and primarily for kids, Zbynek says. But it attracts parents in the winter looking for an activity for their youngsters, and inspires them to shop at the 3-year-old garden center, which is on a busy downtown street on land that used to house a gas station. Each January, the brothers build the rink right in front of the store.

The process is deceptively simple. First, they line the fenced-in space with wooden boards. Next, they put down the liner, which costs about $400. The key is ensuring that the liner, which will serve as the rink, is on an even surface. The first year a portion of the rink was too deep because the liner dipped too low, and the water didn’t properly freeze.

Once everything is set up, they fill the liner 4 to 6 inches to create the base. Once that freezes, someone has to create the “night ice” or the smooth surface, a process that starts in the wee hours of the morning. “We’ll start at 1 a.m. and put a thin layer of water on the ice, and do that four or five times during the night,” Zbynek says.

Because skates create divots in the ice, this process must be repeated every other day, depending on how many skaters they have. But so far, it seems their work (and lack of sleep) have paid off.

“It gets us a good head start on spring because we’re in people’s minds,” Zbynek says. “We probably break even on the skating rink, but the promotional value and the good will that it creates – I couldn’t buy that kind of advertising.”

They do charge a small fee — $3 to skate and $5 with rental — to help maintain the cost of materials and insurance associated with the rink. Customers have started to reserve the rink for parties, Zbynek says, a service that is free to help promote the rink. People can bring their own food and cake as well and warm up in the store during the party.

When the rink first opened, the Zidlickys didn’t offer rentals, assuming that people had their own skates. But Zbynek says a majority of kids are first-time skaters.

“The first year we didn’t realize that since this area hasn’t had an ice skating rink for so long, people didn’t have their own skates. The skate rentals were a surprise for us,” he says. “But we went to goodwill stores and now have about 50 pairs of skates in all different sizes.”

The rental service makes it convenient for parents, and was worth the investment, Zbynek says. On Feb. 17, he estimated they have had 250 skaters so far.

“This year we were up 40 percent on sales, and it’s going a lot better. It takes a while to get your name out, but I’m really happy with it,” he says. “I think the ice skating rink had a lot to do with it. It helps us and other businesses downtown.”