The boutique bowling alley Joey Padilla owns and operates at the DeVargas Center, The Alley, has families to thank for 70% to 80% of its business, he says.
So Padilla wasn’t surprised recently when a study commissioned by Santa Fe officials found that a significant number of consumers likely are traveling outside this market in search of family-friendly entertainment, feeling such options here are lacking.
But Padilla has a message for those who believe the Santa Fe business community has fallen short in providing such opportunities.
“It’s easier said than done,” he said. “Sometimes, I pinch myself and think, ‘I can’t believe I actually make this work.’ “
The study, which examined the city’s “retail leakage and surplus,” found Santa Fe fared well in nearly every category, indicating that the city attracted more consumer spending than would be expected based on its population. In industry jargon, that’s known as a retail surplus.
But Barry Matherly, CEO and president of Hickey Global, which was commissioned to produce the study, told members of the city’s Quality of Life Committee at a Feb. 19 meeting the study also found that retail leakage — a condition in which demand exceeds supply, causing folks to shop elsewhere — existed in the realm of family-friendly entertainment options.
When Padilla read about that aspect of the report, he found himself growing defensive, even though his business is one of a limited number in Santa Fe that caters to the family market.
“We want to bring entertainment here, but it’s really not that easy,” he said, referring to the high cost of opening any business in Santa Fe.
Running a risk
Many enterprises that cater to families can be especially pricey to operate, requiring significant investments in equipment and staffing, Padilla said, citing his own business as an example.
Padilla said he opened The Alley in September 2019. In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic hit, forcing him to close his doors for an extended period.
Michael Herrera gives his daughter Ella Herrera, 5, a quick putting lesson before hitting the mini-links during a day of family fun at the Hinkle Fun Center in Albuquerque.
“I thought I was going to lose everything,” he said.
While the business survived, Padilla said that is just one example of the kind of risk some entrepreneurs have to take. Before opening the bowling alley, he said he and his wife, Hannah, explored the idea of opening a trampoline park.
“That was until we had a sit-down with our lawyer, who scared the bejeezus out of with what he told us about the price of insurance premiums,” Padilla said.
Bridget Dixson, CEO and president of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, said the lack of family-friendly entertainment options in Santa Fe is an issue she’s been working on for years.
But she sees significant hurdles to changing that situation, citing figures that show 60% of Santa Fe’s workforce lives outside the city — mostly in the Albuquerque metropolitan area.
That significantly reduces the size of the Santa Fe retail market on nights and weekends, she said.
“We have over 30,000 people that commute from Rio Rancho to Santa Fe [for work],” she said, explaining why some business owners might be reluctant to invest in a family-friendly enterprise here. “It can be a challenge. It’s hard. When the majority of your workforce doesn’t live here, that’s to be expected. But it is something I’m working on.”
Johanna Nelson, the city’s economic development director who helped deliver the retail leakage study, told committee members she regularly hears from residents with children who find themselves driving to Albuquerque for family-friendly entertainment.
One Duke City business that may be the beneficiary of that business is the Hinkle Fun Center, located at 12931 Indian School Road. The family recreation spot offers attractions ranging from miniature golf to laser tag to a Bungee jump trampoline, among other attractions.
General Manager Colleen Wyatt said the business doesn’t do marketing surveys to determine where its clientele is coming from, but she said it tends to draw from a broad market.
Wyatt said she wasn’t surprised to learn Santa Fe is experiencing retail leakage in the family-friendly entertainment area, pointing to Albuquerque having a plethora of such options, including a zoo and an aquarium.
Eleano Rivas gets his son Eleano Rivas III strapped in for a turn around the arcade with Lashawna Brown during a day of games, putt putt and go-carts at the Hinkle Fun Center in Albuquerque on Saturday.
But she pointed out the money can flow both ways. She said she and her granddaughter love to spend weekends in Santa Fe, staying at a hotel and swimming in its pool, while also dining out every meal. The Chocolate Maven Bakery & Café and Meow Wolf are two of their regular stops on those outings, she said.
‘It was not that fun’
Meghan Montelibano-Gorman, a Santa Fe mother of two children, is a strong advocate for greater family-friendly entertainment options. She launched the website Santa Fam two years ago as a resource for parents and caregivers in search of children’s activities in the city.
Montelibano-Gorman is not a fan of driving her children — ages 3 and 11 months — outside Santa Fe for activities. She said she has taken them to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and the Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum of Albuquerque. But the logistics involved in executing an excursion like that with two small children are complicated, she said, explaining that “toddler energy” often can be depleted just by the ride south on Interstate 25.
“It was not that fun,” she said of those visits. “By the time we got there, they were grumpy, and we couldn’t do much.”
Montelibano-Gorman is familiar with the arguments as to why Santa Fe doesn’t have more family-friendly entertainment options. But she maintained the city is missing out on a significant amount of business by not offering more and better options.
“I know so many people who have left the city,” she said. “And a lot of them cited the lack of things they could do with their kids here.”
Montelibano-Gorman encourages the local business community to think more holistically about ways to resolve the issue. She said merchants need to stop thinking of their audience as just children, explaining family-friendly businesses also need to be appealing to adults.
Parents want to be able to take their kids to places where they can interact with other children, she said, but they also want to have opportunities to mingle with other parents and experience a sense of community.
Specifically, Montelibano-Gorman would like to businesses that are a combination café and play space. The concept is not new, she said, but it hasn’t caught on in Santa Fe.
Montelibano-Gorman said she looked into the possibility of opening such a business herself but realized quickly she did not have the resources to do it. She launched Santa Fam as a response to the lack of such a space, developing a lengthy inventory of family-friendly dining establishments, shopping experiences and recreational opportunities in Santa Fe.
But she’s the first to admit Santa Fam doesn’t address the needs of all local families.
“It’s not all practical, and it’s not all accessible,” she said, noting while some businesses may be family friendly, they may not be reachable for families who lack reliable transportation or they may not be affordable.
She argued many businesses, restaurants in particular, could undertake small, inexpensive changes to make themselves more attractive to families, including providing high chairs, crayons and drawing paper, as well as reserving some parking spots for those with children.
That’s an idea Dixson said she’s trying to promote through a new campaign at the chamber, though she said the initiative is only in its preliminary stages.
Elma Herrera, 4, gets a little frustrated with putt-putt during a day of games.
Hannah Hausman, executive director of the Santa Fe Children’s Museum and a mother herself, also supports that idea, based on her experiences dining out with her own children.
“There are very few places where you can go that are family friendly, where you can feel comfortable and that you’re not a burden,” she said.
Montelibano-Gorman said changes like that would benefit parents and merchants.
“It seems like a win-win to me,” she said.
A moment in the spotlight
Another Santa Fe mom, Haley Crumbacher, has taken matters into her own hands when it comes to addressing the lack of family-friendly entertainment options. Last year, she began staging kids karaoke events at her eatery, Cake’s Café, 227 Galisteo St.
“I know the importance of [having] activities for kids in our community,” Crumbacher said.
With a local karaoke company providing the equipment, Crumbacher said the sessions usually attract two dozen children, plus their families, making the events a great success.
“It’s a zoo,” she said of the festive atmosphere.
Just like with their adult karaoke counterparts, some first-time participants exhibit a degree of shyness at first, but it’s not long before they get over that, Crumbacher said. In fact, some children look forward to kids karaoke so much, they practice their songs in advance, she said.
One of the side benefits of the sessions is that they help children develop life skills, Crumbacher said. But the main purpose of kids karaoke is to provide a sense of community — and fun — for young people and their parents.
“That’s a common phrase you hear around here — where’s my village?” she said. “Well, we have to create that village.”
Hausman’s institution, the Santa Fe Children’s Museum, offers a more traditional family-friendly experience, but it is no less popular. Hausman said it is her impression many Santa Fe families have been eager to find new activities since the coronavirus pandemic struck.
The museum is trying to respond to that need by renovating some of its exhibits and improving its play spaces, but Hausman said she realizes the museum, located at 1050 Old Pecos Trail, is not readily accessible to a lot of families on the south side or is perhaps not even on their radar. Museum personnel are exploring the idea of expanding to a second location, but she said that idea is only in its embryonic stage.
In the meantime, the museum remains the default alternative for many families.
“I wish there was more to do than just us,” Hausman said.
Hausman laughed ruefully when asked if she feels like that places a significant burden on her institution.
“Just a little. But I’m really proud and happy to do it. And I’m super proud of our industry,” she said, though she added she believes children’s museums will be called upon to step up even more in the future.
The chamber’s Dixson said she once was a stay-at-home mom herself and knows what it’s like to try to find enough entertainment options to keep small children occupied. But placing the blame for a lack of options on the business community is a misplaced idea, she said, returning to the idea such a high percentage of Santa Fe’s workforce exits the city limits at 5 p.m. on weekdays.
“That means it’s hard to have a business model that’s sustainable,” she said.
Having run the numbers for a café-play space herself and finding them unworkable, Montelibano-Gorman is likely to understand that argument. Nevertheless, she said she feels like she’s been treated condescendingly by many people she’s spoken with about the lack of family-friendly entertainment options in Santa Fe.
“I have been told, ‘Good ideas follow the money,’ ” she said. “But I feel like people are not prioritizing children.”