Business owners are seeing success in Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto by investing in businesses that keep people entertained.

Flix Brewhouse opened in the Sky Ridge Plaza shopping center in 2011in a former location of a Hastings. When Hastings went out of business, the shopping center’s owner, Allan Reagan, wanted to fill the space with lifestyle businesses. 

“[Reagan] was inspired to enter into the cinema business, and he was surrounded by other creative people,” said Matt Silvers, senior vice president of real estate and brand development for Flix. “He decided to loop together craft beer, dining and obviously movies to be the anchor tenant of Sky Ridge Plaza. It took about 15 minutes for folks to embrace it.”

The company is now in the process of expanding both in Texas and throughout the nation.

Flix is one of many entertainment-driven businesses that have invested in the cities of Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto and thrived.

According to data from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, in 2008-14 the number of entertainment, recreation and arts entities increased by 80 percent in Round Rock, 136 percent in Pflugerville and 160 percent in Hutto.

Market demographics

Entertainment business owners say they are looking for certain demographics that the area offers.

Rick Heim, managing partner of Spare Time Texas, which started in Temple and opened its second location in Pflugerville in December, said the arcade and bowling alley’s owners wanted to come to Pflugerville because they thought it and the surrounding communities were underserved for indoor entertainment.

“The demographics were similar to what we saw in Temple,” he said. “You’re looking at enough disposable income in the household [for residents] to go outside the home and have some entertainment as well as population density.”

Heim said most of the venue’s business comes from families, but Spare Time also serves teens on date nights, young adults or parents who are going out with friends.

Silvers said Flix looks for demographics similar to those found in Round Rock when expanding because the flagship location has been so successful. He said the company looks for sites in the top 20 cinema markets in the country with residents who have higher levels of education attainment and a younger median age.

“The younger you are, the more likely you are to go out,” he said. “The 28-35 age range is very important to us.”

Competing for free time

Ricky Heine, general manager of the Golf Club at Star Ranch in Hutto, said the area is competitive for a golf course. He said not only is there a high number of golf courses in the immediate area, but golf, a sport that can take hours, is  also competing for people’s free time.

“Free time is being limited. [...] Now there are many more things for children to do,” he said. “The parents who play golf must decide between time with the family and the little bit of free time that they have where they can do other things.”

Heine said the golf course stays competitive by keeping the links maintained as well as offering a practice area so players can spend closer to 30 minutes or an hour playing in the practice facility when they are limited on time.

Arturo Vallecillo is the owner of Game Craze in Hutto, which provides a space for customers to play video games. He said anything that provides a venue for families to entertain themselves is competition for his shop.

“We’re a mix of a comic book store and  a[Local Area Network] center—it’s different, but it’s all still entertainment,” he said.

Some businesses owners are saying nearby entertainment venues can complement each other. Thomas Blankenship is opening a puzzle room called Escapology in Sky Ridge Plaza, the same shopping center that houses Flix. Blankenship said having the movie theater/dining concept in the same center is “great.”

“[Escapology customers can] catch a movie afterward,” he said. “I think that’s pretty cool to have Flix in the same shopping center.” [polldaddy poll=9434759]

Cities’ roles

Pflugerville Mayor Jeff Coleman said the perception of Pflugerville as not being a viable place to build entertainment venues is changing. He said developing a dense population farther away from I-35 means more people are looking for entertainment options that are not along the interstate.

“Ten years ago if you wanted to do something you went to I-35 and went north or south,” he said. “With our growth in [east Pflugerville] there is density, so businesses want to put capital investment in that part of Pflugerville.”

Coleman said as an example, the Cinemark Tinseltown 20 on I-35, which is outside city limits, might serve many Pflugerville residents, but for many others it can be a 25-minute drive. To help bring a movie theater within the city limits, Pflugerville City Council passed an incentive in 2010 to help attract the Cinemark Stone Hill Town Center, which opened in 2011.

“That was a development I’m proud of,” Coleman said. “We incentivized them to come to Pflugerville because it was a quality-of-life issue. It was inappropriate for a city with the affluence of Pflugerville not to have a local theater.”

Round Rock Mayor Alan McGraw said City Council often discusses what quality-of-life amenities the city should provide or which it should allow private business to fund.

“It’s just about finding the right balance,” McGraw said. “It’s not just left up to the council; there’s a lot of input from the community because many [quality-of-life] items have been approved by the citizens.”

As an example, McGraw said the  city’s Rock’N River Water Park was recently expanded with voter-approved bonds.

“That’s definitely a discussion you always have,” he said. “Should [a new amenity] be provided privately, or should the city be involved in it?”

The city also owns the Forest Creek Golf Club and contracts its management to a third party. McGraw said the intent of the city building Forest Creek was to attract the high-end housing development around the golf course. He said the city continues to own the golf course to protect the development.

“It just provides some level of protection for us to continue to own it,” he said.