(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Storybook Play Cafe provides a safe space for kids to partake in imaginative play while parents can enjoy a coffee. (From left) Owner Christina Gutzwiller, General Manager Noah Welsh, and Play Attendant Onyx Denney showcase Bryce’s Castle, one of the structures Gutzwiller had built for the kids to attend.
By HANNAH GUNNELL
Greenwood has been waiting for a place like this.
At least, that’s the feedback Christina Gutzwiller has received over the last month since she opened Storybook Play Cafe at 1001 N. SR-135. The cafe offers a small, safe place for kids ages 8 and under to partake in imaginative play, and a coffee shop menu for parents.
“The community just loves it,” she said. “I don’t know how many people have told me they’ve been waiting for a place like this. My kids love it. It’s such a small space that [parents] can literally just sit, drink coffee and watch their kids without having to get up. As a parent, that’s a huge thing. I have a seven year old and a four year old, and we’ve gone to all the big kid places around here, but it’s exhausting for the parents because you have to chase them around, you have to go into the slides with them, and I really wanted to create a space where you didn’t have to do that.”
Gutzwiller got the idea for this type of business after attending a similar place while visiting family in Virginia and just falling in love with the concept.
“They don’t have anything like this back home, and my husband [Ryan] is very ‘Reach for the stars,’ entrepreneurial type, and he said, ‘Let’s just do it.’ Nine months later, here we are,” she said.
They did the research, and found Ryan’s hometown community of Center Grove had a great market for this type of business. They designed the imaginative play buildings — which include Bryce’s Castle, Market Garden, Dress Shop, Cozy Crumb Bakery, and Blacksmith — and reached out to Intermountain Structures, a Utah-based company Gutzwiller found on Instagram, to build the structures.
(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Gutzwiller’s husband designed the structures within the cafe, and then they worked with Utah-based Intermountain Structures to have them built and installed. These play spaces are geared for children ages eight and under.
The choice to include the Hospital and Blacksmith was intentional: the hospital was included because Gutzwiller is a full-time nurse, and the Blacksmith was included to ensure the place wasn’t “too girly,” as she put it.
“Surprisingly, the dress shop is extremely popular,” she said. “I was not expecting that to be the most popular, but I’m going to have to get some more costumes and outfits because every single kid loves the make-believe dress up, which fits the imaginative theme we were going for.”
Bryce’s Castle is named for a Center Grove boy who recently passed away from Krabbe Disease. Gutzwiller plans to host fundraisers during Rare Disease Month to donate to local organizations that bring awareness to rare illnesses like Krabbe Disease.
The cafe has nine employees, including baristas and play attendants. The play attendants lead activities like storytimes and bracelet making, keep the play areas clean, play pretend with the kids, and make sure they’re safe while playing in the structures.
“That’s really a culture I wanted to create because I feel that’s important for the development of the child as well, to interact with other people but also to help the parents relax,” Gutzwiller said.
The cafe is run by General Manager Noah Welsh, Gutzwiller’s longtime friend who left his corporate job to back her company, she said. She couldn’t have done this without him.
Welsh created the whole coffee menu, creating and giving the drinks whimsical fantasy names like “Coronation Cappuccino,” “The Halfling Lavender Latte,” and the most popular, “The Top Hat Cooky Latte.”
(Hannah Gunnell/TSN photo) General Manager Noah Welsh created the coffee menu, giving the drinks whimsical fantasy names that are in line with the shop’s fantasy play theme.
Customers are already asking if they’re going to open a second location, Gutzwiller said. Not yet, but Storybook Play Cafe will be offering a membership option to customers soon.
The cafe is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Play sessions cost $15 and can be booked in advance on the cafe’s website, https://storybookplay-cafe.com. Grippy socks are required for kids to play.
“I really just want to create a safe space for families and kids to be able to come and enjoy,” Gutzwiller said. “In the area we live in, there’s such a huge demand for a space like this, and being a parent myself of the age group this is made for, I wish I would’ve had this when my seven year old was three. I just really want to create that environment where it’s a family.”
