Marilyn Webber and her husband, Jim, opened the Fun Lab at the previous Gander Mountain location right off of Highway 65. It was initially difficult to find a space that would fit their business needs.
“That was one of biggest things that we had trouble with in the city of Blaine,” said Webber in an interview with North Metro TV. “There aren’t very many buildings that we could do this in because we need ceiling heights of 25 plus feet. When Gander Mountain became available, we got really excited, and that’s who we ended up here but there were very few places we could pick from.”
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Like the Gander Mountain, other retail spaces in the Blaine area will be replaced with new businesses. For instance, part of what was the Best Buy in Blaine will soon become an Aldi.
With its rare concept of the business as well as it not being a franchise, the Webbers felt that they were filling a unique need for fun and games in the community.
“Jim and I actually live in Blaine,” said Webber. “We’re local residents and we like Blaine. We like the area and we didn’t feel like there was anything like this there.”
As a piece of advice to Blaine business owners, Marilyn says it all comes down to the research.
“We should probably do a lot of research n the demographic that you’re doing the business for. Just know what you’re getting into,” she said.
2019 itself was a particularly difficult year to open up a business.
“What has surprised s was that we probably had the roughest winter as far as opening up a new business with all of the cold days and the snow days. We had like nine or ten of them. That was pretty rough in the beginning,” said Webber.
Other than the snow, the additional challenge that the business faces is potential customers knowing of its location.
Ultimately, Webber wants the Fun Lab to be a hub for quality entertainment.
“I would like this to be a destination that people remembered to having a good time at and want to continue to come back,” said Webber.
