HYANNIS – Wackenhammer’s Arcade on Main Street, Hyannis has permanently closed due to lack of business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leslie Bondaryk, co-owner of Wackenhammer’s with her husband, said that maintaining the location safely during the outbreak would be too challenging and costly to justify continued operation.
“It’s the kind of place that people touch things. Everybody is going to go in and be on top of each other and no matter how much you try, and we certainly did while we were open to keep things clean and sanitized and all that, there was no way we were going to be able to keep up with that in the current conditions.”
Bondaryk also said that state restrictions meant that they were unsure when their business would actually start for the summer season.
“In addition, I don’t even know when the state was going to allow us to open in any real capacity, as it’s the kind of place that draws crowds. That was clearly not really going to happen. Doing an entire season of trying to pay people and keep a place alive that no one can even patronize just seemed to be a losing proposition.”
With their main professions as engineers, Bondaryk said that they tried to make new experiences and exploration the focus of the Arcade.
“It wasn’t about prizes, though we did have those. It wasn’t about competition, it was about a place where families could go and really have fun discovering things together,” said Bondaryk.
“We loved doing the shows on Saturday night. We loved bringing some new artist to the forefront and showing families other ways that they could have fun together. We just wanted it to be a nice place where maybe you could try and experience some things you haven’t seen before.”
Bondaryk said that they could try and take some of the more educational parts of the Arcade and offer them in a digital format.
“Maybe we’ll try and see if we can take some of these ideas online. We did write up a whole lot of science educational materials that we were publishing on our website. Those will stay there for the foreseeable future. Maybe we’ll do more of those and write some more science games,” said Bondaryk.
Now that it is closing, the Arcade will be selling most of their games to the private public through their Facebook page.
Bondaryk said that she hopes other businesses on the Cape will fare better in the coming seasons.
“I would like to think that next year, when conditions are looking better, and we have a cure and all that, that a new crop of people that want to make some summer time fun and make it a nice place for families to come back to will resurge. I hope that that’s true,” said Bondaryk.
“I think there’s a lot of potential in Hyannis. I think it’s a beautiful town and that it could be a great place to go and vacation once again, but this summer is likely to be pretty rough.”
About Grady Culhane
