Let’s Play Work, an indoor space in Forest Park that caters to adults and their children, will be closing late next month.
The owners said they are closing their doors at 7228 Circle Ave. because of high taxes and zoning restrictions.
“Property taxes are a huge deal for everyone,” said Angela Hart, “and we were assigned a portion of property taxes that were just too much for us to take on.”
Hart said that the business would have been able to offset the financial strain from property taxes if Let’s Play Work had been allowed to offer “drop-off events” where children could attend small camps and classes. However, zoning restrictions barred this.
“We were told by the village that we could not have drop-off events because that area was not zoned for daycares, even though we are not a daycare, we are not licensed as a day care, we do not have to follow any DCFS licensing sort of things as daycares,” Hart said. “Even though none of that was taking place, we still were not allowed to have drop off events, and so that was a huge chunk of what our offering to the community would be that we weren’t allowed to do.”
She and her husband, Joe, opened the business in 2022.
Hart said she first got the idea in 2019 for what became Let’s Play Work when she took her daughter to an indoor playground and noticed a need for a safe place where children could play while adults worked.
“I thought there is no space anywhere that kids can be kids, but then adults can do whatever they want and feel comfortable,” Hart said. “No matter if you’re out in public you’re going to a restaurant, either you’re bringing a kid into an adult space and you’re uncomfortable because you want them to act older than they are or you’re putting yourself in a kid’s space and now you’re uncomfortable because … it’s not made for you.”
In addition to an indoor play space, Let’s Play Work has hosted family events, including a new parent resource fair with tables from the park district, a pediatrician, a postpartum doula, therapists and support groups for mothers. The business also hosted a vendor fair and several movie nights for parents with young children.
“I always said to the parents, ‘I understand this is a movie night, but if the kids don’t watch the movie for a single second and they want to play on the play structure the entire time, this is their space and they’re allowed to do it,’” Hart said. “It was literally an excuse for all the parents to be able to get together and have a community while the kids played or watch the movie.”
In addition to Angela and Joe, there were other team members who helped in the efforts to keep Let’s Play Work together. Two members in particular, Mari and Jackie, offered several suggestions on how to enhance the business based on customer suggestions and their experience, Hart said.
“On the weekends we had our teenager, Gabe to help us with parties … and we had Mari Lopez … and Jackie, who lives in the community as well,” Hart said. “Mari and Jackie — they were the life of our place.”
Billy Cooper, an Oak Park resident who has taken children to Let’s Play Work, said that the space was a unique business that gave a service he could not find anywhere else.
“Truly the size of the space is wonderful,” Cooper said. “The ceiling is really high. They have an indoor playground that my kids can just get lost in. There’s so much to do.”
When reflecting on the future of the area, Cooper said the community will lack a business like Let’s Play Work with the closing in the future.
“There’s very few, if any, places that have Wi-Fi and let the parents work, while their kids are playing,” Cooper said.