Fairfax City Escape Room Rebrands As Bond's Entertainment Center

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Ten years ago, Egor Bond was having a difficult time convincing potential landlords that opening an escape room business would be a success.

"The way I was trying to explain the concept is that we were here to entertain people," Bond told Patch on Friday. "We will walk them in. They will pay us money. But don't worry, they're going to have fun."

That turned out not to be the best pitch and Bond continued trying to sell the idea to other property owners. It didn't help that had immigrated to the U.S. two years earlier and had a heavy accent.

But then Bond got lucky.

While working as an Uber driver, Bond picked up a passenger in D.C. and dropped them off in the middle of Fairfax City. Looking around, he wondered if this could be the place to open his business. With the help of a business development grant from the city, his hard-to-sell concept became a reality.

On Friday, Bond and his wife Anna celebrated their 10th anniversary as the co-owners of Bond's Escape Room at 3949 University Drive.

On hand to help them celebrate the occasion were Mayor Catherine Read and Councilmember Anthony Amos, as well as representatives from Fairfax City Economic Development, the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, and the Old Town Fairfax Business Association.

Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Read presented the Bonds with a plaque from the city recognizing their 10 years as business owners in Old Town.

Friday's celebration was also an opportunity to announce the rebranding of the escape room as Bond's Entertainment Center, which offers 15 entertainment experiences. These include two new virtual reality arenas, a game show experience, and rooms for birthday parties, business meetings, and team-building activities.

Thanks to its success, Bond's Entertainment has expanded into three different levels at their original location on University Boulevard. The company also opened a second location at 2800 Clarendon Blvd. Suite 910, in Arlington in 2019.

"You should be aware of what industry and business outside are doing, but you should stick to your own thing and never let it go," Bond said, when asked what he's learned in operating his own business for 10 years. "Because of that, I immediately started investing in and establishing our own team, so we can build better and more and more high-tech experiences ourselves. We wouldn't have to outsource it in any way. That was the right choice."