June 30
June 30, 2009
Elsie Rhodes Theriot Andrews
July 2, 2009
With south Louisiana’s summer at hand, Beanie and Richard DuBois are offering a service children – young and old – are sure to enjoy: Inflatable bouncers.
The DuBoises, who also run DuBois Nursery on West Tunnel Boulevard in Houma, started Fun Time Inflatables in March 2008.
“We had never considered owning a bounce house business before,” Beanie DuBois said.
However, when the couple was looking to rent some tables and chairs for their daughter Whitney’s 18th birthday celebration, they went to Rene Clement, the genius behind Space Walks of Houma.
Richard DuBois found out that Clement was selling his business after 25 years of service to the community. Together, it took Beanie and Richard one day to decide that owning an inflatable bouncer business would be a great adventure.
“It looked like fun,” Beanie said. “You see the kids playing in the bounce houses and it just looks like so much fun.”
The DuBoises transitioned into the bounce house business seamlessly. Beanie attributes it to the fact that the family has run a successful plant nursery, utility trailer and concrete business for nearly 25 years.
Beanie and Richard became the owners of DuBois Nursery in 1999.
Richard’s father H. Paul DuBois retired. H. Paul had discontinued the plant nursery some years ago, but kept the name out of respect for his wife Helen DuBois, who died in 1989.
Since then, Beanie and Richard have trademarked several businesses out of their DuBois Nursery location. They dabble in selling Christmas trees in December and used Mardi Gras beads after the New Year.
However, when they stepped into the inflatable bouncer market, they stepped into the unknown.
“We pretty much have something for every season here,” Beanie said. “But then, we started renting the bounce houses. We knew it would take up a lot of time, but we never thought we would have this much business.
“I thought that we would only have about four to five rentals a weekend,” she added. “I was wrong. Some weekends we have up to 18 rentals.”
The DuBoises celebrated one year in the inflatable bouncer business this March. Beanie said she is glad that they took the leap.
“The bounce house market is plentiful in Houma,” Beanie said. “Take Fourth of July weekend for example. Everybody who runs a bounce house business is booked. To me there is really too few of us to service the area.”
The biggest demand for bouncers tend to be in the summer months, Richard said, when children take advantage of the good weather by having friends over for some fun.
“It’s amazing to see how the kids light up when we pull up in the trucks with the bounce houses,” he said. “They are so excited and anxious. Most times the guys have to hold them back from getting in the way.”
At Fun Time Inflatables, customers can choose from a variety of bouncers, including nine waterslides bouncers, four combos with a slide and bouncer, 10 regular bouncers, two mini-bouncers for children three and under and one jumbo double slide they call “The 180.”
“The 180 is 42 feet long and 16 feet tall,” Beanie said. “The kids like it because they never have to get out of it. The slides are back to back. They can slide down one side and climb up and slide down the other.”
However, the water slide is the most in-demand bounce house. Beanie said with the smoldering heat in south Louisiana, residents tend to go for the coolest bouncers for the children.
When the couple bought out Clement at Space Walk of Houma, he had only two water slides. They invested in three more. But they still were not meeting the demand. They had to buy out Cajun Jumpers to add a total of nine water slides.
The good part is the business requires little upkeep. The DuBoises use electric motorized blowers to inflate the bouncers. And when it comes time to clean up, Beanie said the workers normally wash the bouncers down with a cleaning solution, let them dry, roll them up and store them until the next use.
With his hands flying high, Richard DuBois, co-owner of Fun Time Inflatables, and his worker Glen Champagne take time out to enjoy a little fun before deflating the jumbo double slide they call “The 180,” which is a 42-foot long and 16-foot tall inflatable bouncer. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER
