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We will probably go to Europe and then go to America. "That's global, as long as you can cross the language barrier. "It's a very franchisable model, with a strong brand and strong games," adds Justin. We are trying to raise the bar on a global level."Īnd next on the agenda is trying expand the escape rooms business as a franchise - taking on the United States and the rest of Europe.

He's designing our props now and a local guy is doing our set design. "While he's normally big budget Hollywood films, he bought in to myself and the escape rooms. Our prop designer is Mark Maher, who was head prop designer on The Hobbit movies," says Justin. "It's so much more advanced than what we have done before. Fit out is under way, and up to four games are likely to be launched.

Since then, he says the "perfect spot" came up on Royal Avenue in Belfast city centre, where the company is now developing a series of top-end escape rooms. That then led to Justin converting the upstairs floor of his Castle Street business in to two new escape rooms, one centred around the Titanic and another around Jack the Ripper. The first thing we do when we travel to a new city is book a steak dinner and book an escape room." "My brothers and I love them - we travel a lot and are big into the escape rooms. Turning to his latest venture, escape rooms, the interest came from a hobby turned business. "Businesses can go online, log a ticket, and then you will get updates throughout," says Justin. It's now working with companies such as engine parts manufacturing giant, Montupet. The firm employs 12 staff, taking on four new workers this year.Įven in the wake of the Primark fire - which cut off Castle Street from much of the city centre - the iPhix store remained busy. He's now grown that business to four locations, from the original store at Bow Street in Lisburn to include Castle Street in Belfast, Lurgan and the latest at the Cregagh Road in east Belfast. The business grew and with that so did the number of cars parked outside his house - to the point that he realised his next step was setting up shop. Clearly there was a demand for this."Īnd after leaving a comfortable, well-paid and secure job to pursue his own new venture, Justin didn't - at first - tell his other half that he had packed it in, putting his suit on each morning before going to visit his mother. "Following a meeting I was in for work, I had 20 missed calls and voicemails - it started to snowball from there. But demand grew quickly, with his phone ringing off the hook. Margaret Canning’s selection of the must-read business stories straight to your inbox every Tuesday morningĮnter email address This field is required Sign UpĪfter he was charged £85 for a 30-minute phone repair, he said "the light bulb went off". The knowledge of computers is applicable - they are small laptops, aside from the GSM," he explains. "I bought a job lot of broken phones, around 50, and managed to get 30 or 40 up and running. After that, smartphones hit the market," he says.Īnd as friends and family began asking for his help in sorting out their devices, he decided to take the plunge and begin repairs. Back then it was the Commodore 64s and Nimbus computers, and I started repairing units that my father would pick up from auctions. IPhix began in 2014, but Justin's interest in repairs started at a young age - breaking down and fixing old computers, bought by his father at auction.

But his company Timescape is undergoing a major investment in four new sites at Royal Avenue, taking on Mark Maher, a senior designer who worked on Peter Jackson's The Hobbit films, for model making. Justin operates four iPhix stores and has two top-end escape rooms in Castle Street. Starting out tinkering with now decades-old early computers in his Carryduff childhood home, Justin Milligan has now expanded his iPhix phone repair business to four locations.īut he's also one of just a handful of businesspeople here to see the burgeoning demand and growing market for escape rooms - a timed, often themed, puzzle, in which a team answers clues, following a story, to escape.