Big Cheddar Bounce opens in De Pere

DE PERE – In addition to celebrating the start of the new year, Marcus and Trisha Merckx also celebrated the grand opening of their new business, Big Cheddar Bounce, on Jan. 1.

Filling the need for family-friendly activities and entertainment in the area, Big Cheddar Bounce, located at 2125 American Blvd. Suite B in De Pere, is an indoor play space featuring bounce houses and more for the whole family to enjoy.

“It’s an idea that came up after I had a stroke five months ago and wanted to do something for my kids,” Marcus said. “We don’t have anything in the area that’s for families. There’s a lot of play centers that are for little kids or big kids… I was born and raised in West De Pere and there’s always been a need for something over here without having to drive to Ashwaubenon or Green Bay.”

Initially, the plan was to start a bounce house rental company.

“It just kind of kept growing,” Marcus said. “I went and bought a bunch of bounce houses to just do a bounce house rental company, but then I told my wife, ‘I have an idea. Come look at this building with me.’”

While storage spaces in the size Marcus and Trisha were looking for had waitlists up to a year long, an opportunity presented itself at what would become Big Cheddar Bounce’s home.

“We were looking for storage for the bounce houses that we had purchased, which snowballed into looking at a warehouse…” Trisha said. “I told [Marcus] no many times… Then we went and looked at the facility and decided that this is going to be our event center for De Pere, and we have big plans to keep growing and expanding.”

Currently, Big Cheddar Bounce has seven bounce houses on rotation for customers to enjoy along with arcade games and a party room with plans to add on to the business’ offerings in the future, including a restaurant, outdoor performances and food truck rallies.

“We are always trying to move on to the next thing — the next part that will entertain people in our facility,” Marcus said. “As soon as we’re done with one project, we’re moving on to the next one… We want to make this De Pere’s urban entertainment center.”