Less than three years after it opened, earlier this winter Potrero Hill’s NextKids/NextSpace closed its doors. According to Diana Rothschild, NextSpaces’ chief executive officer and NextKids’ founder, the quasi-preschool was felled by the same phenomenon that’s forcing many small businesses and longtime residents out of the City: high rents. NextSpace continues to operate eight other locations, including two in San Francisco, without NextKids.
NextKids opened in 2013 alongside NextSpace’s Potrero Hill offices. It provided a place for parents to work and children to play alongside each other, offering infants, toddlers and preschoolers play-based early education and parents a co-working space. Rothschild sold her idea to NextSpace, worked with the company to develop the concept of NextKids/NextSpace in Potrero Hill, and ultimately became NextSpace’s CEO.
In a 2013 interview with SFGate, Rothschild said that she “realized I wasn’t showing up as the CEO that I am, and I wasn’t showing up as the mom that I wanted to be.” She told Mashable, that she “dreamed up this space where I could get my best work done and show the world I was a productive member of society, and my daughter would still be onsite.”
While the Hill space was designed with families in mind, according to Rothschild only about 20 percent of NextSpace members took advantage of the childcare facilities. Due to the Hill’s rising rents and insufficient revenues, NextKids couldn’t afford to renew its lease. However, Rothschild termed NextKids’s closing a “hiatus” and “it is by no means the end of the journey for the company.”
Though NextKids has closed, Carolina Street-based Recess Urban Recreation, which offers play-based activities for newborns to five-year-olds, as well as opportunities for family networking, is open. Despite previously announcing that they were moving, Recess was able to negotiate an affordable lease that extends to 2018. “After spending nearly eight years building the business, we just couldn’t bear to shut it down just because we couldn’t find a place to move,” said co-owner Lisa Nowell. “The real estate market is incredibly competitive right now, so we bit the bullet and are hoping that we’ll be able to make it work. At this point we’re just trying to breakeven each month. And we will look at relocation options prior to the end of the lease. Hopefully something more sustainable will emerge.”
Recess opened its doors in 2008 after Nowell, an educator, and Kristin Jamieson, a physical therapist, imagined a place where young children could play with or without their parents in a safe and clean environment.
“Recess provides “recess” for both children and adults,” stated Chris, a parent who was a member in 2014. Angela, quoted on Recess’ website, praised Nowell and Jamieson, “the owners are really nice and have created a safe haven for the children and for us parents too!” Recess offers Pilates classes, concerts, and playgroups. Reading material is available to allow parents a respite while their children play.
“In order to make ends meet, we have stepped up our grassroots marketing and hope that word-of-mouth will continue to spread to bring new families to Recess to join as members, attend workshops, participate in our great kids classes, celebrate special events like birthday parties, baby showers, and family get-togethers,” said Nowell. “If any local businesses or organizations are interested in collaborating or renting rooms out for meetings or events, we would love to connect with them! Really, anything to help subsidize our monthly overhead would be amazing.”
“Our heart goes out to [NextKids],” said Carissa, a Recess staff member. “San Francisco is so tumultuous right now for small businesses and it’s a shame to lose such a great program.”
