GEISHA KOW­LESSAR-ALON­ZO

geisha.kow­lessar@guardian.co.tt

Chuck E Cheese will be con­tin­u­ing its re­gion­al ex­pan­sion as it is set to open a store in Ja­maica by the end of this year, Guyana in 2024 and an­oth­er in Ja­maica in 2025, says T&T fran­chise own­er Joan­na Ros­tant.

Speak­ing at the open­ing of Chuck E Cheese’s newest lo­ca­tion at West­mall yes­ter­day, Ros­tant told the Guardian Me­dia that it was an in­vest­ment of about $2 mil­lion which com­prised most­ly the out­fit­ting.

“This branch is ac­tu­al­ly the third lo­ca­tion for us. We opened our first in 2014, then we opened San Fer­nan­do in 2016 but this store (West­mall) is ac­tu­al­ly a re­lo­ca­tion from San Fer­nan­do. There was no is­sue with the San Fer­nan­do branch.

“This (West­mall) was an op­por­tu­ni­ty that we nev­er had to re­al­ly be in the west which was one of our biggest pri­or­i­ties when we bought the fran­chise for T&T,” Ros­tant ex­plained.

With the re­cent open­ing of its Suri­name lo­ca­tion in 2022, the West­mall lo­ca­tion is the sec­ond in less than five months.

“Back in 2012 when this dream was tak­ing shape, we al­ways knew that we want­ed a store in the west. Our fam­i­ly has al­ways strug­gled to find safe, whole­some en­ter­tain­ment for our chil­dren, mul­ti­ple friends and cousins that was with­in reach both in dis­tance and bud­get.

‘To­day, this be­comes a re­al­i­ty for all fam­i­lies in north­ern and west­ern Trinidad,” Ros­tant said, adding that Chuck E Cheese will putting “the more back in­to West­moor­ings.”

Apart from fam­i­ly fun and en­ter­tain­ment, there’s al­so an ed­u­ca­tion­al side to Chuck E Cheese. It of­fers STEM field trips to pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary school stu­dents in T&T.

“Over the years we have taught over 300 class­es the con­cept of Sci­ence, Tech­nol­o­gy, En­gi­neer­ing and Math in an in­ter­ac­tive learn­ing en­vi­ron­ment af­ter which they eat, drink and play.

“The of­fer­ing has been huge­ly re­spect­ed by all schools and cor­po­ra­tions as part of their cor­po­rate sus­tain­abil­i­ty ef­forts,” Ros­tant said.