Calling all families in Brookfield: If you’ve been looking for a space where you can relax or get some work done while your young children play, look no further than Winnie’s Playroom, opening at 9039 Monroe Ave. near Eight Corners in June.
Szewai Lee, who will run the business alongside her husband, Chris Watland, told the Landmark their idea came from their own needs as a family.
“Winnie’s Playroom is inspired by our own children, Amelia and Winnie. They’re 6 and 3 [years old]. As a family of young children, we’re always looking for places to bring them to play while we can sit and watch them, or maybe have a cup of coffee, and there are not a lot of places like that in the suburbs nearby,” she said Thursday. “We want to create a space that’s not just fun for the kids but also comfortable and fun for the adults, for the parents, and that’s how it all started.”
The business will feature an open concept play space for children ages 0-6 with “imaginative” areas like a play kitchen, grocery store and nursery. It will also feature play structures promoting gross motor skills “so the kids can get the wiggles out,” Lee said. Another area will be padded for babies and kids who crawl, while older kids can play board games.
The business will also feature a cafe where parents can order a coffee and sit and relax or bring their laptop and do some work while watching their kids, she said. A retail area will feature kids’ goodies made by local artists and small businesses.
The space will also be available for rentals on the weekends for birthday parties or other events, while Lee and Watland will host other events like story times or workshops.
“I really want to create sort of a community,” Lee said. “I want people to feel like they buy something special to bring home from the community. It’s not only a play space, but it is like a neighborhood hub, a community where people can go to for what they need. They can go to play with the kids, they can have coffee or a smoothie, or they can shop.”
While Lee and Watland live in Western Springs, Lee said the lack of similar businesses in the area drew them to Brookfield, as did the people.
“I’ve met so many great business owners in the downtown area, on Prairie Street. They’re so supportive. It’s just amazing, because you don’t see that a lot,” she said. “It’s rare when people are supportive of the small businesses, but also, the business owners are supportive of each other, which is really cool.”
Lee said they were originally looking to open another location of her other business, Duet Dance Studio in Chicago, when they found the 2,400-square-foot vacant space. Watland is also an entrepreneur, she said.
The couple now owns the entire building, which is also home to teen mental health clinic The Loft at Eight Corners and architecture firm 3si, Inc. While she said she’d never been a landlord before, Lee said she was proud to be the other businesses’ neighbor.
“It has so, so much potential,” she said of the space. “We were like, how cool if we could renovate it, make it really cool, but keep the charm, because we love old buildings.”
Since purchasing the space last year, the couple has knocked down three internal walls to create the open-concept area. Lee said they’ve brought in “new HVAC, plumbing and electrical” and redid the windows and doors to bring more natural light into the space.
“Luckily, my husband’s very handy, so there are things that, if he can do it himself, he’ll do it himself,” she said. “This year, we feel like, ‘OK, we finally are in the tunnel and starting to see the light.’”
Lee said the name for the business came from her younger daughter, Winnie.
“Naturally, I thought it would be cool to incorporate one of their names for the business because they are the inspiration. I talked to my older kid, Amelia, first. I was like, ‘So, Amelia, would you like to be named with this business? Can we call it Amelia’s Playroom or Mimi’s Playroom?’ That’s her nickname, which I think is really cute,” she said. “She said, ‘No, I don’t want a playroom. I want to be selling shaved ice.’ … She was like, ‘I need a logo. I need to sell shaved ice,’ so we might need another permit for a shaved ice stand.”
Lee added Amelia was completely OK with them naming the business after Winnie. She said they may incorporate their older daughter’s love of shaved ice, which developed over a family trip to Hawaii, into the cafe’s menu over the summer.
