Nobody ordered Lexington’s indoor play areas to close. Families just stopped coming.
Nobody in authority has instructed Lexington’s indoor entertainment centers to close, so on Monday, most of them opened their doors. But when families wary of the novel coronavirus stayed away, the owners had a pretty good idea what their future holds.
“The last four or five days, our business was cut in half. Now, today, it’s what you see, where there is hardly anyone,” said Steve Hatton, who owns the Malibu Jack’s locations in Lexington and Louisville.
On a typical school holiday, several hundred people swarm the 110,000-square-foot Malibu Jack’s entertainment complex on Nicholasville Road in Lexington, including plenty of excited kids.
At lunchtime Monday, only 10 sedate customers were scattered about playing video games. The miniature golf course and go karts were ignored. The restaurant and bar were closed, following the orders of Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear.
Government warnings about the need for social distancing to avoid spreading COVID-19 clearly made an impact, said Hatton, who employs about 200 people between his two locations.
Later Monday, the business announced on Facebook that it was temporarily closing all of its locations.
Beshear and Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton have not called for the closure of entertainment venues like gaming centers and movie theaters, instead urging people more generally to avoid crowds. However, the businesses will be forced to go dark if there isn’t enough income to cover expenses, like payroll, Hatton said.
Across Lexington at midday Monday, few people — if any — amused themselves at Monkey Joe’s, Kids Place Adventure Playground or GattiTown. Sky Zone Trampoline Park already had closed “to protect the health and well-being of our community” it announced on its Facebook page.
The entertainment centers’ owners say they’ve doubled their cleaning efforts — and in fact, the only visible activity at some of the businesses on Monday was employees carefully wiping game consoles and disinfecting common areas. The centers also have closed certain attractions, such as Malibu Jack’s’ toddler-friendly Bounce Beach Kids Zone, for fear they could not be adequately virus-proofed.
But it’s unlikely to be enough to win back the crowds.
GattiTown has both a restaurant and a gaming area. Beshear’s order on Monday prohibiting in-house dining at restaurants means that half of the business is being shuttered, said owner Jeff Frye. There does not appear to be enough demand for the gaming area at this time to justify staying open much longer, Frye said.
“We just wish — and I know nobody can give us an answer, because nobody knows anything at this point — but I wish somebody could give us an estimate and say, ‘Look, this is going to last for two weeks. Or two months. Or six months,’” said Frye, who has 60 full-time and part-time employees.
Similarly, Kids Place Adventure Playground shares an owner and a building with Lexington Athletic Club, a gym. While three families played quietly in Kids Place on Monday, director Dustin Ramirez said he suspects the state or city soon will close both indoor children’s play areas and health clubs to avoid COVID-19 spreading through personal contact.
Otherwise, Ramirez said, Kids Place likely will close if the state shuts down daycare centers. Beshear has indicated such an order is probably coming later this week, to keep small children from congregating and spreading the virus.
“Every day, everything changes,” Ramirez said. “I can barely keep up with all of this.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 4:17 PM.
