Good Neighbor Podcast: Port Saint Lucie
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Port Saint Lucie. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Garfield Bowen helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Port St Lucie, Florida.
Is your business serving the residents of Port Saint Lucie? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpPSL.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Port Saint Lucie
EP# 242: Building Blocks of Imagination The Making of Teeny Town Play Cafe with Kia Armstrong
What makes Kia Armstrong with Teeny Town Play Cafe a good neighbor?
Have you ever wondered what drives a mother to become an entrepreneur? Meet Kia Armstrong, whose journey through motherhood and her son's health challenges sparked the birth of Teeny Town Play Cafe, a sanctuary for young ones that redefines the indoor playground scene. In our latest episode, Kia opens up about how she weaved her nurturing instincts into the fabric of a business that prizes not only the joy of play but also the paramount importance of cleanliness and safety for children with delicate health. Step inside various imaginative playhouses, from a pint-sized grocery store to a miniature fire station, while Kia demystifies the idea that Teeny Town is a daycare—it's a space where play and parental supervision harmoniously coexist.
As Kia shares her tale, you'll discover a woman of many layers, encompassing a fervor for video gaming, treasured family moments, and the tranquil allure of the Bahamas. Her narrative is as much a testament to her diligence and love for community as it is a guidepost for those aiming to enrich the lives of their little ones. And for those who believe in celebrating the spirit of local enterprise and the ties that bind our neighborhoods, we invite you to nominate your favorite local businesses for the Good Neighbor Podcast Port St Lucie spotlight. So, grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's celebrate the heart and soul behind Teeny Town Play Cafe—a place where childhood memories are crafted with care, and community champions like Kia lead the way.
To learn more about Teeny Town Play Cafe go to:
https://teenytown.square.site/
Teeny Town Play Cafe
529 NW Prima Vista Blvd #209
Port St. Lucie, FL 34983
(772) 274-5245
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Garfield Bowen.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of an indoor playground for small kids? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, kia Armstrong, with Teeny Town Play Cafe Kia how are you? Doing today.
Speaker 3:I'm doing fantastic, and how are you doing?
Speaker 2:I am well. We're excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us about your company.
Speaker 3:Well, teeny Town Play Cafe is a fun, skill-building indoor playground. We offer a clean, safe and exciting environment for kids to play and explore. We have a ton of activities and toys to keep our Teeny Explorers engaged for hours upon hours, to include eight fun-filled playhouses. We have a grocery store, a beauty and barbershop, an animal clinic, restaurant, fire station, mechanic shop, construction zone and so much more. We kept parents in mind with the design of Teeny Town. We have a cafe seating area with tables and chairs, with free wi-fi and work space for our work at home parents. We ensured the layout was not too big or too small, just right so that parents can see their children playing from any spot in our building. They can sit and relax and they don't have to worry about chasing them around or losing their child. We also offer birthday parties, classes and events.
Speaker 2:All I can say is wow, it sounds like a kid's heaven. I mean, I would dream of a place like that when I was a child.
Speaker 3:Me too.
Speaker 2:Where were you? You know, and the thing too is probably afterwards they'd probably be tired and want to sleep, right?
Speaker 3:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:The parents love that. They're super tired when they leave. So tell me, how did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:Well, I have two boys that inspired me to open this business. They're ages two and ten, and with my first child I found that in Port St Lucie and St Lucie County for that matter there weren't a lot of places for small children that was catered to them. I would take them to the library to get out of the heat, but it's so much that you can do at the library and so many times that you can go, and we would go to the jump places like Flying Panda, but it's older children and they used to trample over my kids, even though they were fearless. I was a nervous wreck the whole time we were there because they were so small. And so they inspired me to open it, and with my two-year-old I was faced with a set of different challenges.
Speaker 3:He has two autoimmune disorders. He has what's called beta thalassemia and hemoglobin C. It's in a sickle cell family, but it's not sickle cell, but his red blood cells are shaped like sickles in football, so his white blood cells attack his red blood cells because it thinks it's a foreign object. So not only did I have to find an age-appropriate place for small kids, I had to find a place that was clean and sanitary for my child, because if he gets sick with a fever, I can't just give him medicine for him to get better, he has to go directly to the emergency room. So it was very, very important to me to ensure that he had a safe place that he could play and have fun and not get trampled on, that was safe and clean and that's what inspired me to open Teeny Town.
Speaker 2:So what are some of the myths and misconceptions? Now you're dealing with moms, and this is their treasure. I mean, this is what they live for. You know what I mean. This is what they live for, you know what I mean. You want to make a parent upset, you mess with their kids. Okay, what are some of the myths and misconceptions of your indoor playground for small?
Speaker 3:kids? That's a great question. I'm glad you asked it because the biggest misconception of an indoor playground is that we are daycare and that it's free to get in, because at playground you go to the playground, you don't have to pay a cover charge and so please do not bring your kids to teeny town. I think you can drop them off. They have to be supervised the entire time of your visit. We are not a daycare and I can't tell you how many times even my closest family and friends indoor playground is so new to them and I wanna say new to Port St Lucie. I was one of the first to start and they would ask during my build out process when are you gonna open a daycare? When I'm like it's not a daycare, it's an indoor playground, you have to remain on site with your child and it's not free. There is a charge to come and play.
Speaker 2:Okay. So, kia, when you're not busy running your business, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:For fun. I love being home with my family, spending time with them. I'm an avid video gamer. I grew up with five brothers and we play video games a lot and I'm really good at it. I have consoles, a PlayStation 5 in every room in my house, and my sons and my husband we all play together. I have my headset on and we play online with each other and we play different games, of course, too and we like to travel. We like to go on cruises.
Speaker 2:What's your favorite destination?
Speaker 3:I would say the Bahamas, and I know that's kind of cliche because we're in a tropical environment right now. It's because my family is from the Bahamas, so I enjoy the food and the weather.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right. So, yeah, I know you have a lot more to say about your business, but I want to narrow it down to one thing. What one thing should our listeners remember?
Speaker 3:about Teeny Town Play Cafe. Listeners remember about Teenytown Play Cafe. One thing that the listeners should remember, and my future customers, is that we clean like crazy. Our facility is impeccably clean. We get a lot of feedback and positive reviews about how clean our facility is and for the first time ever, I received an anonymous email about feedback that we clean too frequently, and I took it as a compliment. Still that you know my team members were doing what they're supposed to be doing and I just explained to the parent that was concerned about how frequently we clean that we want Our motto is to create a play experience for everyone to enjoy, so when they walk in, we don't want it to be a disaster and we don't want it to not be clean and organized. We want everybody to get what they pay for, and so, just like we gave your child that experience, we're going to give everybody that same wonderful experience of a clean and organized facility.
Speaker 2:What's the age range for the kids?
Speaker 3:0 to 8 years old 0 to 8 years old, but I must say, Garfield, that the parents and the older children have more fun than the smaller kids.
Speaker 2:A lot of our listeners now a lot of our listeners are thinking of their kids, their grandkids, their neighbor kids, their nieces, their nephews that come into town and they want to have that experience. And they have one question on their lips right now, and that's how? How can we get more information on Teeny Town Play Cafe?
Speaker 3:We are on all the social media sites. We're on Instagram. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, and also Google at Teeny Town Play Cafe. We also have a website it's teenytownsquaresite, and if you have any additional questions and you find that that information doesn't answer any of your questions, you can reach us at 772-274-5245.
Speaker 2:Well, Kia, we really appreciate having you on the show. We wish you and your business the very best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I appreciate being here.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Port St Lucie. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpportsaintluciecom. That's gnpportsaintluciecom, or call 772-362-3840.