Bounce Magic, an entertainment center for kids with locations in Hamburg and Amherst, N.Y., is still being forced to close while similar businesses like gyms and even trampoline parks have been allowed to reopen.
Owner Tim Wood decided recently to permanently close the Amherst location to keep the other location afloat with no end in sight for his required shutdown. “It just got to the point that this is unsurmountable as a local business with not very deep pockets,” he said.
Wood said he was angered that very similar businesses to Bounce Magic – like Get Air, a trampoline park in Tonawanda – are open yet he has to remain closed. “I was like, ‘How is it that you can keep making money, but I’m being told and monitored to make sure I’m not making money?’” Wood wondered.
However, as detailed in a report by WKBW, it’s unclear that Get Air is even allowed to be open, as a spokesman from the governor’s office thinks there are some indoor entertainment places reopening “under the guise of a gym.” Said the spokesman, Jack Sterne, “Opening these businesses during a global pandemic is reckless and shows a disturbing indifference to New Yorkers’ health and safety. These businesses are high-risk for the spread of Covid-19 and opening them is a slap in the face to those who have sacrificed over the last six months to stop the spread. We thank the businesses that have been complying with the state’s rules – and are taking immediate action to close these those that are illegally open.”
Click here to read more into New York’s Phase 4 reopening, which leaves out many indoor entertainment centers. It notes that arcades, movie theaters and more are “higher-risk” indoor activities. There is no guidance on when they can reopen. (Bowling centers, however, were taken off the list and are now open in the state.)