Party room a jolly good time
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers PUT UP YOUR DUKES- Jumping with oversized boxing gloves is no easy task for La Mariposa fifth-grade classmates Courtney Johns, left, and Hailey Boling, both 11, while having fun at the recently opened Jolly Jump Party Place- an enormous indoor playroom stocked with inflatables.

Don Arndorfer has turned child's play into big business.

His company- Jolly Jumps- has made the brightly colored two-story-high inflatable jumpers a mainstay at birthday parties throughout Southern California.

The former Kmart manager has spent the past 15 years building one of the first businesses in the United States to elicit shrieks of joy from youngsters who bounce, flop and play inside the padded confines of the tent-like toys.

Tomorrow, the 55yearold Camarillo resident opens Jolly Jumps Party Place, a 4,600-square-foot indoor party room that features his company's inflatable jumpers, slides, obstacle courses and a rock climbing wall.

The cheerfully painted and vibrantly carpeted warehouse of a room gives Ventura County parents a place to host birthday parties without worrying about the cleanup or the possibility of a broken living room lamp.

"It's a new, healthy environment for kids to have their parties," said Arndorfer.

The room costs $275 for a two-hour private party. The rental includes an hour-and-a-half of playtime and a half hour for cake. Arndorfer said the parties will include pizza, a party coordinator and a room supervisor to help watch the children.

He said the new room- part of a larger 18,600squarefoot warehouse facility- will help the company recoup revenue lost when it decided to shutter its manufacturing facility last year.

Arndorfer, a native of Wisconsin, joined Jolly Jumps in 1992 following a longtime career with Kmart. His decision to leave the world of corporate retail was sparked by Ted Schowchow, who was manager of the Kmart store in Oxnard at the time. Arndorfer was manager of the Ventura store.

"We kind of knew that Kmart was going to have its problems back then, and we were looking for something else to do," said Arndorfer, the father of four girls.

In the late 1980s, Schowchow and his wife, Patsy, had started a small inflatable jumper rental business out of their garage. As the business grew, Arndorfer signed on as a partner. He soon realized that the market for the inflatable jumpers was growing by leaps and bounds.

"We had a couple (inflatable jumpers) that we bought from a company on the other side of the country," Arndorfer said. "Rather than buying these things, we decided to work together and start building them."

Although none of the three entrepreneurs knew how to make the inflatable jumpers, Arndorfer said "good old American ingenuity" allowed them to start making and selling the jumpers.

"When we were building jumps, there were maybe five companies in the States that were building them," Arndorfer said.

Over the past decade, the number of inflatable jumper makers skyrocketed. To better compete in the industry, Jolly Jumps began shifting its manufacturing overseas.

Arndorfer said it was a difficult decision but that industry pressure forced him to move most of his production to China.

"We had to change with the industry," Arndorfer said.

Last year, Arndorfer bought out the Schowchows and closed the company's manufacturing facility in Camarillo.

Arndorfer may still be considered Southern California's inflatable jumpers guru.

He continues to make custom jumpers in Camarillo and keeps nearly 400 new jumpers in stock. He sells them throughout the United States.

Along with the flourishing inflatable jumpers rental business, Jolly Jumps rents a veritable carnival of goodies from cotton candy and snow cone makers to a miniature train, dunk tanks and a rock wall.

Last year Scott Leva, a professional stunt performer, designed a precision stunt air bag- made by Jolly Jumps- that won the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Technical Achievement Awards for safety.

Arndorfer said his company's longtime experience with renting jumpers has given them a chance to see firsthand ways to make them safer.

Over the past 15 years, Jolly Jumps has designed a number of safety features that have since become the industry standard.

An inflatable step into the jumper, Arndorfer said, was one of the Jolly Jump innovations, as well as a smaller exit and an entrance flap designed to keep youngsters from falling out of the jumper.

Arndorfer also said his company was the first to install a flap over the jumper's air valve that allows the inflatable to retain air if the air compressor short circuits or stops working.

Arndorfer said he loves what he's doing and hopes to be in the business for a long time.

"I like being my own boss," Arndorfer said. "I like the rewards of my own labor."

Arndorfer lives in Camarillo with his wife of six years, Mary Ann.

For more information about Jolly Jumps, 840 Avenida Acaso, call (805) 484-0026 or visit www.jollyjumps.com.