Knucklebones Closing

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Knucklebones is apparently being forced to close. Does anyone have more insight into the situation?

Letter from the owner explaining:

Date: Wed, May 30, 2012 at 9:09 AM
Subject: Important Epicenter News


Hello Loyal Knucklebones Followers,

Before news spreads we wanted to share with you directly, we will be
closing the Epicenter on June 30th. As many have already heard, three
weeks before we were to open in December our investor backed out.
This forced us to alter our original plan of "Interactive Toy Store"
to "Play Space with a Toy Store" because we simply did not have the
funds for shelving, inventory, check out system, etc. Our vision had
to be put on hold but we moved forward with what we could afford and
what we thought would be successful. As you have helped to prove,
this concept has been a success and a lot of fun!

For the past few months we’ve been in discussions with the City of
Cambridge due to a neighbor complaining about our backyard use.
Although we have only used the yard for three parties (from
October-May) for a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes, this neighbor
contacted the police and filed a formal complaint. After coming to an
agreement with the City that we will no longer use the backyard for
paid activities, we thought our troubles had come to an end. However,
a week later the City placed a Cease and Desist Order on all paid
activities essentially ending ‘Open Play’ and any classes due to
zoning regulations. Although we had hoped to be a functioning Toy
Store by this time we know that testing products is what makes our
store unique and we are not willing to give up that portion of our
vision and become ‘just another toy store’.

Although the Epicenter will be closing you can still get your KB fix
as we will continue traveling to our clients for play services and
we're looking to run a weekly ‘Open Play’ at the Arts at the Armory.
Of course, you still have the entire month of June to enjoy the
Epicenter’s Open Play, Creative Movement class and purchase remaining
inventory. Beginning Friday, June 1st we will have a Flash Sale of
our current inventory, priced better than Amazon. We will also be
offering reduced rate memberships for $55 (one child) and $50 for
siblings as a Thank You closeout for the month. Open Play will remain
at $7 for the day and we will still host parties through the end of
the month.

I know this news may come as a shock to many of you, it did to us as
well. It has been a fantastic six months and you have been an
integral part of it! Of course, we're excited to move forward to find
a new space, with the correct zoning, for our unique vision of an
interactive toy store. Feel free to provide us any information to
help us locate our next "perfect" location. Thank you for your
support and remember to think of us anytime you need fun and healthy
athletics, retail, consultation, etc...for love of play!

Mitch

Founder | CVO
Knucklebones
196 Elm Street North
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-851-2928
www.Knucklebones.us

Comments

[ron_newman]

The ungrateful complaining neighbor should be publicly named and shamed, in my opinion. This is just as bad as trying to shut down the VFW post.

I'm going to point Marc Levy of Cambridge Day at this post, since the business is on the Cambridge side of the line.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Fully agreed.

[veek.livejournal.com]

If I had such extenuating circumstances, I'd talk to my neighboring business and try to come up with a mutually agreeable solution (no loud noises from X to Y time?) instead of filing formal complaints with the police, shutting down any possibility of conversation.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

If someone next door opened a nannying business with a ton of kids playing in the yard, I would file a complaint as well.

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

It seems one should aspire to get 'both' sides of the story before going all 'e-vigilante' on someone, "...named and shamed..." for example.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Please read the message. There is no reason to put all blame on the neighbor, according to the message. The people running Knucklebones stated that the city of Cambridge sent them a Cease and Desist order because Knucklebones did not follow proper zoning laws and procedures. That order from the city has closed the store, not the neighbor's complaints. Rather than call for a knee jerk public naming/shaming of a perhaps innocent neighbor, a better course of action would be to ask Knucklebones' owners/managers why the proper permits weren't researched and received prior to opening their establishment.

[ron_newman]

But without the complaint from the neighbor, I doubt that the city would have noticed the zoning violation and shut them down. This is why I compare the situation to the Dilboy Post VFW.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Nothing in that message implied that the neighbor's complaint had anything to do with the city's order. My husband owns Pandemonium in Cambridge, and when he moved his store from one Cambridge location to the current Cambridge location, he had to close the store for months because the city took that amount of time to issue the proper permit, instead of the expected 5-7 days. And when the permit was granted, it forced him to change construction plans, which had his store closed for the entire time. The city of Cambridge has inspectors who ensure that all businesses comply with city regulations, who actually visit his store occasionally.

Tyler says he actually wanted to have an "after school" or "noon - 6 pm" childrens program for kids ages 10+ at his store. When he looked into this, he discovered a massive amount of city and state regulations that he had a difficult time deciphering. When he found that, since it was not "full time child care" there was a murky morass of rules/permits/etc which applied, he decided it was not worth his time and money to institute the program. I can just imagine the rules for toddlers are even more stringent.

If the neighbor complained "I don't think this area is zoned for children" that might have been passed from the police department to the zoning department. However, the city and state inspectors would have eventually discovered this issue. City taxes are paid twice annually (but that's a different department from zoning). Noone here knows what caused the city to explore the store's zoning status.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Zoning laws exist for a reason. I don't know if I have sympathy for a business that set up shop in a location it was not legal to do so. I reviewed the zoning laws for my street and the neighboring streets before I bought my house. I am open zoning amendments, but I also think I have rights as someone living in the area to have a say in the matter.

I personally think the VFW is quite different since it's an established institution being attacked from all sides. This was a legitimate noise/activity complaint (perhaps a bit harsher an action than I'd take).

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I see nothing in my post to warrant this response from you.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Koshmom intended to reply to Ron_Newman's first comment?

[teko.livejournal.com]

Should they have been more careful in following the apparently draconian zoning laws of the area? Sounds like it.

But it's hard for me to imagine circumstances that make their neighbor any less of an asshole.

[squirrelitude]

Lack of imagination is not reason enough to condemn the neighbor. We have approximately 3% of the story.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

However, a week later the City placed a Cease and Desist Order on all paid activities essentially ending ‘Open Play’ and any classes due to zoning regulations.

Urge to (moderate) libertarianism rising...

[ron_newman]

For future reference: original post about Knucklebones from last August.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

While I can certainly sympathize with a neighbor who objected to the use of the yard, I see no reason why use of the indoor play space shouldn't be allowed. Why can't they get a zoning variance for the indoor space?

[ron_newman]

And because they can't use the yard anymore, it is now abandoned, overgrown, and weedy. Surely that's worse for the neighborhood than if Knucklebones was using it as originally planned?

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

What I don't get is, if they only had outdoor events three times, and, since it was for kids playing with toys outside from October to May (which seems backwards, but maybe they were winter toys?), one would assume that it was during the day...who the heck was complaining and what kind of blackmail material did they have, and on whom?

Because whenever I've called to complain about neighbours' unruly behaviour outside, it's not in the in the middle of the afternoon, it's in the middle of the freaking night, and rarely, if ever, did the cops manage to actually shut the people up. So how does this place get shut down?

It just seems...I don't know. Extreme.

[ron_newman]

At my suggestion, Cambridge Day has now published a news article: Knucklebones closing after complaints it’s all play, no sales.

The article says that "Information about the complaining neighbor would be made available [by Inspectional Services] Thursday", and that "This post will be updated with information from the city’s Inspectional Services Department."

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

That's really cool! Good job, Ron!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I know the two foreground babies in that photo! :D

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

From the article: "Commenters on the LiveJournal site agreed the area may not be perfect for kids parties"

Really? I don't see that here at all. It's totally perfect for kids parties, and I think most of the commenters think they should have been allowed to keep doing it.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

(this is in response to Ron's message which refers to the news article in Cambridgeday.com, in case I accidentally hit the "reply" button from the wrong area again).

I don't understand the business model of this store. I don't have kids, and I've never been there, so I have no idea. How do they make money if they don't sell toys? Here's what I can glean from the article and the owner's letter above: it appears they have toys to sell. They also have samples of those toys available for babies/toddlers to play with. This is the same model that I've seen in many toy/game stores: they give people a sample to examine, maybe even play using the sample, and if the customer decides it's something they want to buy, they buy a new copy, leaving the sample for the next potential customer to examine.

I understand they had paid events. I don't know anything about these events. Did the parents rent out the area so their (and selected other invited children) can have exclusive use of the toys for a half hour or so? Or was this more of a day care facility, where parents could drop off their kids and go shopping in Davis Square, with the parents paying the store to babysit the children, allowing them to play with the toys? Or did they charge for playing with the toys, with the explanation that it costs money to sterilize the toys (baby drool, germs, etc) between usages?

[ron_newman]

The Cambridge Day article has been updated to identify the complaining neighbor as Christopher Barr.