Cleveland play centre to reopen after community uproar over planned closure

This popular southeast Queensland children’s entertainment venue announced it would close its doors for good last week, but then something convinced the owners to reopen.

Bay Play Cleveland will reopen after announcing it would close its doors for good last week.

POPULAR play centre Bay Play Cleveland announced it would reopen after the news of its closure sparked an uproar from the Redland community last week.

Manager Joanne Wildermoth said it was the overwhelming response from the community that gave the business fuel to reopen.

“The situation has changed, given the feedback from the customers being disappointed that we were closing,” she said.

“The owners didn’t realise how important the centre was to the community as a whole so the staff and management have convinced them to try again and with a very small budget we’re doing a big renovation.

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“This centre is a very big expense, because it’s so big you have to have a lot of staff on, especially on the weekends and school holidays.

“They had been struggling financially but we’re going to try and turn that around.

“We’re really fortunate to have amazing staff — they’re all chipping in to build up Bay Play again.”

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Ms Wildermoth said the centre would still close on July 26, and would hopefully reopen after a week.

“At the moment we’re giving ourselves a week, it’s not set in concrete,” she said.

“We need to repaint and move things around in a short amount of time but we’ve got a lot of hands on deck.”

The centre originally announced it would shut its doors for good via a Facebook post on July 3.

Bay Play's notice of closure posted on their Facebook page on July 3. Picture: Facebook

The response to the post was overwhelming disappointment with comments expressing how much the business would be missed.

“Bay play was worth the hour plus drive it took us to get there. This is so so so upsetting. Best wishes to the owners. I have 3 small boys who will miss Bay Play!”

“Devastated! My kids will miss this place.”

“This is so sad … it is such an important part of the community......tragic that it is to close.”

Ms Wildermoth said the revamped centre would turn its focus to better catering for children under five years of age, and their parents.

“Weekends and school holidays are really great for business but we really need to concentrate on building up the clientele during the week,” she said.

“We sat down with the team and had a chat about how we can make it better so we can keep business going.

“We need to revamp the toddler area with all new equipment and the facilities for mothers with young babies so they’ll be more inclined to come here.

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“We’re hoping to put in a room with comfy chairs and bottle warmers where breastfeeding mothers can go if they want a bit of peace, if they so choose.

“There’s a lot of work to get done in a week but anything is possible if we work hard enough.”

All existing bookings with the centre will be honoured and full refunds will be provided for those who wish to cancel or have a booking within the closure period.

The centre is expected to reopen on Saturday, August 3.