These rooms are all the rage at Destruction Depot
Breaking up easy to do at Michigan business
Taking a sledgehammer to a printer at work would get you fired.
Breaking dishes in the house after an argument doesn’t help mend relationships.
But at Destruction Depot, it’s all encouraged.
Matt Crawford, the owner of the new business in Brighton, Michigan, said Destruction Depot allows people to vent emotions in a safe and controlled environment.
It currently features two rooms where customers can use tools of destruction such as sledgehammers, golf clubs, crowbars and hammers to annihilate everyday objects.
And the business is already a smashing success, becoming a part of a national trend of so-called rage rooms.
About five months after Destruction Depot opened, the 700-squarefoot business is already gearing up to nearly triple in size to another location in the Brighton area.
“It took off,” Crawford said. “I’ve had people contacting me wanting to do big groups of like 40 people, and I can’t fit them into the building I have.”
Opening Destruction Depot in the smaller space allowed him to prove the concept would work, he said.
“Now it’s time to give people a bigger, more comfortable area,” he said. “I’d like to cater to corporate events and birthday parties.”
To demonstrate how it works, Crawford recently suited up in protective gear, grabbed a bat and went to town, smashing vases to smithereens.
“It’s just a release, any anger and frustration,” Crawford said. “If you channel that, taking it out on objects, it’s healthier. Some people go to (the) shooting range, run marathons. ... Me, I like to hit things with a sledgehammer.”
Customers suit up in protective gear and break office equipment, dishware and all sorts of objects that Crawford either gets at garage sales or customers bring in themselves.
The current space allows for two people at a time to destroy objects in each room.
“I imagine we’ll add four more rooms, for a total of six ... and there will be two inside alley walls for plate baseball and a windup area for people to throw things up against the wall,” Crawford said.
The new, larger space will also feature a party area for events.
“We’re also looking into doing some themed rooms, like one inspired by (the 1999 film) ‘Office Space’ with a keyboard, monitor and printer, because those things get requested a lot,” Crawford said.
He said about 80 percent of his
customers have been women.
“A lot of it is ladies night outs to have fun, and they like breaking glasses, smashing dishes on the floor,” he said.
Julie Foley went to Destruction Depot earlier this month with two friends for a working mom’s night out.
“Matt has created a safe environment where we can break things and not have to clean it up,” said Foley, a 34year old who lives in Lyon Township, Michigan.
She had fun smashing a porcelain sink with a crowbar, she said, and felt satisfied throwing a flower vase to the ground.
“It definitely makes you laugh, and I was able to enjoy watching my friends smashing things,” she said. “My friend took a vase full of Christmas ornaments and smashed that to smithereens.”
She is looking forward to taking her 10-person mom’s club to the larger rage room once it opens.
Larry Bossman, 51, and his daughter Alyssa, 19, smashed office equipment, dishes and household items in the rage room.
“He had a pretty good assortment of things, including the office printer and the overhead projector, which we smashed,” said Bossman, of Farmington Hills, Michigan. His daughter “really went after the overhead projector, like they have in schools.”
“I think we all get a little frustrated when the print job doesn’t come out or when the toner needs to be replaced, and although I’ve personally never had a confrontation with a printer or fax machine, what we did in the destruction room was clear out any paper jams,” he said.
Bossman described feeling “relieved” afterward. “If you’re just stressed out and want to take it out on something and not get in trouble, and it’s a safe environment ... you have protective clothing on and you don’t have to clean up afterward,” he said.
One woman held her “divorce party” at Destruction Depot.
“It’s for anyone who has worked on a cubical farm ... and I want to give them an outlet for that stress,” Crawford said.