SISTERS TRADE CORPORATE JOBS TO RUN ESCAPE ROOM IN CAYCE
Cayce, SC (WLTX) - Six months ago, two sisters set out on a dream. Tracy Crawford says she and Alexis Fenske quit their corporate jobs in North Carolina and Florida with the plan to create an escape room in Cayce.
"We fell in love with the Columbia metro area instantly from the first time and I just lived an hour and a half away and had no idea how cool it was," said Crawford. "We fell in love with it and there's not really any competition here so we thought it would be a great spot and there's definitely a need for things that are like this and things that are really fun to do in the area."
Fast forward to July 15th. The sisters watched Nicole Hess and her parents, their first official customers, attempt to solve a series of puzzles and strategies within 60 minutes.
"We don't always work the best together but we actually did work pretty well in there surprisingly so it's a lot of teamwork, you definitely have to communicate and so it was really fun," said Hess.
Escape rooms like The Final Door have quickly become popular activities throughout the country. Fenske says companies use them as team building exercises.
"A good team that communicates really well and has a wide variety of different kinds of talents and skills and strengths, they're going to really do well in a room like this," said Fenske.
Crawford says it's rewarding to see people put down their phones for even a short amount of time and bond.
The sisters' first room, the Dungeon, has about a one in three success rate. They say if you decide to take on The Final Door, don't over think it.
"I would say just be open minded," said Crawford. "Sometimes the real obvious things are right in front of you and people overthink it and expect to have fun and forget about the world outside of that room for 60 minutes."
Fenske and Crawford plan to build four more stages. They're also adding a conference room for businesses to use as a way to team-build once they're done.
To register a time slot for The Final Door, visit their website.