Valley mom runs indoor playground

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Editor's note
Candice Mac Lean

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This week’s cover story offered me the chance to visit Saint John’s only indoor playground and café.

Talk of the business started last winter, when the buzz among valley moms was that a new indoor play space may be opening and could offer children a place to play through the winter months.

Just Play opened in Saint John July 1, and owner Tracy Craig has learned children just want to play – and not only when snow is on the ground.

Craig said business has been bustling since the doors opened – a welcome surprise for the mom of two who lives in Quispamsis.

Just Play is a 7,000-square foot space that boasts a large play structure, an LED game floor and a sports corner. But most importantly, it gives children a healthy place to burn off energy, make friends and play with their parents.

Craig’s intention all along, she said on a recent afternoon, was to create an area for physical fun.

“What I am passionate about is that kids today don’t always have an opportunity to just be kids,” she said. “We have them doing so many different things and going so many different places and we as parents are busier and our lives are more stressful and parents don’t always have the opportunity to play with their kids.”

The play space is vibrant and alive with purple, orange and blue paint splashed on the walls and the sounds of children running, laughing and playing in every corner of the building.

It started as a dream, but Just Play is now a reality, and Craig said her hopes of expanding the business could be closer than she thought.

She wants to expand in New Brunswick and to other provinces, and said growing Just Play was initially a five-year plan but the success is making it look more like a two-year plan. Craig said she’s enjoying her accomplishment.

“Every once in a while we just kind of come in here when it’s quiet … sometimes we’ll come in on a Sunday before it opens and I just kind of say ‘Wow.’”

Candice Mac Lean is the editor of KV Style. Reach her at maclean.candice@kvstyle.com.