Let’s Play Work, an indoor space in Forest Park for adults and their children, will close at the end of next month.
The owners said they would close their business at 7228 Circle Ave. due to high taxes and zoning restrictions.
“Property taxes are a big deal for everyone,” says Angela Hart, “and we were assigned a portion of the property taxes that was just too much for us.”
Hart said the company could have offset the financial burden of property taxes if Let’s Play Work had been allowed to offer “drop-off events” where the children could attend small camps and classes, but that was not possible due to zoning restrictions.
“The community told us we were not allowed to pick up children because the area was not zoned for daycare. Even though we are not a daycare center, we are not licensed as a daycare center and we do not have to abide by DCFS licensing regulations,” Hart said. “Even though none of that was happening, we were not allowed to pick up children, and that was a big part of what we were offering to the community that we were not allowed to do.”
She and her husband Joe opened the business in 2022.
Hart said she first came up with the idea for what later became Let’s Play Work in 2019 when she went to an indoor playground with her daughter and noticed a need for a safe place for children to play while adults worked.
“I thought there was nowhere where kids could be kids, but adults could do whatever they wanted and be comfortable doing it,” Hart said. “Whether you’re out in public or you go to a restaurant, you either put a child in an adult space and feel uncomfortable because you want them to act older than they are, or you put yourself in a child’s space and feel uncomfortable because … it’s not made for you.”
In addition to an indoor play area, Let’s Play Work has also hosted family events, including an information fair for new parents with booths from the park district, a pediatrician, a postpartum doula, therapists and support groups for mothers. The company also hosted a vendor fair and several movie nights for parents with young children.
“I always told parents, ‘I understand this is movie night, but if the kids don’t want to watch a second of the movie and want to play on the playground equipment the whole time, that’s their place and they’re allowed to do that,'” Hart said. “It was literally an excuse for all the parents to come together and form a community while the kids played or watched the movie.”
In addition to Angela and Joe, other team members also helped hold Let’s Play Work together. Two members in particular, Mari and Jackie, made several suggestions on how to improve the business based on customer suggestions and their experience, Hart said.
“On the weekends, our teenager Gabe would help us with the parties… and we had Mari Lopez… and Jackie, who also lives in the community,” Hart said. “Mari and Jackie – they were the soul of our house.”
Billy Cooper, an Oak Park resident who has taken children to Let’s Play Work, said the space is a unique business that offers a service he can’t find anywhere else.
“The size of the space is really wonderful,” Cooper said. “The ceiling is really high. They have an indoor playground where my kids can just get lost. There’s so much to do.”
Looking ahead to the future of the area, Cooper said that with the closure of a business like Let’s Play Work, the community will be missing a business in the future.
“There are very few, if any, places where there is Wi-Fi and parents can work while their kids play,” Cooper said.
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