“An incredibly sad closing of another small women owned business.”

1408 Okie Street, NE

“Dear PoPville, [thanks to all who sent]

An incredibly sad closing of another small women owned business. This one hits hard as it was conceptualized, opened and run by two moms who happened to also be super funny. The timing was not great – I literally have pics of my son enjoying the ballpit a week before lockdown – but they tried their creative best to offer what they could and really try and help their/our community. Camps, tutoring, safety measures, outdoor yoga, partnerships with local food and breweries. This is a visceral sadness and disappointment – and I hope we as a city can really all recover together.

From The Lane:

“We tried. We really did.

To our wonderful community,

After two years of never ending twists, turns, and pivots, we will be closing our doors next month. It goes without saying that this is a devastating decision for us to make. We threw absolutely everything into opening our doors in February 2020 and keeping them open through the unthinkable over the last two years. Sadly, timing was not on our side.

We wanted to create a space focused on having fun and building community — and we will never stop believing families deserve spaces like this. Despite the constant obstacles, we are grateful for so many joyful moments in our building. We had a front row seat to playdates and birthday parties, got to know a phenomenal group of kids who went to “school” here for a year, and even had a small pandemic wedding on our roof deck. In the darkest times, we found ways to be together and have fun, and those are the memories we will cherish forever. Thank you for being there with us through it all.

As first time entrepreneurs, starting a business was hard. Keeping it alive during the pandemic was harder. Shutting it down is the hardest task yet. We ask for your patience as we handle the many parts and pieces of closing the business. From now until February 27th, parties, events, classes, and programs will continue as planned. Open play will end on February 13th. If you have an event or are signed up for a program beyond February 27th, you will receive separate communication from us. Memberships will remain active until February 13th and will be discontinued at that point.

If you’d like to support our team, we have set up a GoFundMe to give you the opportunity to say thank you. We will also be offering all of our awesome toys and other items for sale — so if you’d like to take a piece of The Lane with you, please let us know/stay tuned.

If you have questions, we’re here to help as best as we can. We’ve relished every minute of building this dream with you and hope you will come say goodbye over these next few weeks.

To fun and community, no matter what,
Rachel and Molly”