In the heart of east Danforth, an indoor playground, once buzzing with activity and filled with children’s laughter, sits idle due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“March and April are our busiest times of the year.. I had over 16 party bookings .. not to mention drop-ins,” said owner Irene Sikiotis.
Nearly three years ago, with a brand new baby, she left a 17-year career in banking to open a play centre and realize a dream.
“To provide an area where people could call home, an area where people could all connect and meet with like minded people, have their children play in a safe place. I wanted to form a family here and basically a community. I love children. I love people,” she explained.
The response, she said, was overwhelming.
Jump for Joy was rated one of the top indoor playgrounds for children in Toronto.
“Everything I dreamed of literally came to life,” she said.
A 2,000 square foot facility with tons of toys for toddlers and infants, a ball pit, and rock climbing tower and jumping castle for children up to age five. The centre also offered a parent relief program allowing families to drop off their children to be looked after by trained professional staff.
Then COVID-19 hit.
Like so many other non-essential businesses, Sikiotis shut her doors.
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“I honestly didn’t think this was going to last this long. I am very grateful that I have my health and my family, and that I was able to spend some time with them, but at the end of the day, we have to eat. We have to live. We invested over $250 thousand in here,” she said.
On top of the initial investment, she is now faced with an estimated $55 thousand in debt due to the closure, she estimates.
“It’s very difficult to watch something that you planned to have long term and you had big plans for… really crumble in front of you,” she said.
“The small business sector has been so hard hit by COVID-19,” said Toronto City Councillor Paula Fletcher, adding, “It took so long for the Ford government to bring in a freeze on commercial evictions and the CECRA rent relief program by the federal government is still not really good enough.”
Realizing the pandemic would keep her business shut longer than expected, and fearing her business could not sustain the closure, Sikiotis reached out to her community for help.
A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $17 thousand to help Sikiotis keep her business running.
“I really owe it to the community for being here today. It’s helped me up until today. My landlord has been great. She’s been cooperating with me all along the way because she believes in this place… To have a community rally for you to stay open is moving… something that I will never forget in my life,” she said.
The money raised is a temporary lifeline.
However, Sikiotis has had to rethink her business model.
“If you were to come here on a Winter day, it would be rammed, lined up out the door and I tried to accommodate everybody as much as I could. But the sad reality is it can’t be like that anymore,” she explained.
Jump for Joy will soon offer private play for families with enhanced cleaning procedures. Sikiotis is taking her cues from the provincial government. She is also launching an exclusive child care program, taking health and safety measures into account.
READ MORE: Toronto, Peel Region move into Stage 2 of province’s reopening plan Wednesday
“I just ask for people to have compassion for small businesses and try to adjust as much as they can to their new way of doing business, because we weren’t left with much choice,” she said, adding “it’s a challenging time for everybody … we’re going to be operating on 10 per cent what we normally do.”
Sikiotis said she is hopeful she can keep the play centre open because she believes there is a need for it in the community.
“This is a big part of my life. I really invested a lot of time and money and I just I love it. I love this place. I love the people that I’ve met … I’ve learned so much from my community, I’ve learned so much from parents that come in and I think it will be greatly missed by a lot of people.”
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