Charlynn Robinson shows off some of the donated glassware that will be throwable and smashable items at Therapy Rage Room.
Whether the challenge of precision, the release of stress, or just plain fun, new businesses take aim at trend to THROW
THINGS
Story and Photos By Deborah Lynch dlynch@harrisburgmagazine.com
A
new business that opened in late March in Mechanicsburg offers an aggressive form of therapy and recycling all in one package. It’s a double feel good. Go throw or smash a few flat screen TVs, old computers, or mirrors, and know that it will be recycled properly or donated to artists for their mosaic projects. Even noncustomers can get involved — Therapy Rage Room accepts donations of old electronics, furniture, glassware and more. In this case, one man’s (or woman’s) trash is definitely another’s treasure. Charlynn Robinson, a Navy veteran and part-time artist, moved from Charleston, SC, to Harrisburg where she had family days before the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down in her new home. “The idea came from — like everyone else in the world has been frustrated by the pandemic in some way — me and my family not being able to commune and not get together,” Robinson explained. She said she and some adult nieces wanted to do a “girls’ thing” last summer, but didn’t want to go to a spa or get their nails done. They wanted something like a rage room where they could throw things, but found “nothing like this in our area.” Meanwhile, as the idea was budding for Robinson, friends Cori and Grady Summers and Kati and Dan Dalton of North Annville also were looking for a way to have fun. “I wish we could say we did some big study and did our homework, but we went to the Stumpy’s [Hatchet House] in Lancaster with our husbands as a date night, and we had a great time,” Cori Summers said. “We said, we should do this in Hershey. We kind of laughed because they [their husbands] always have great ideas about what 20 HARRISBURG MAGAZINE APRIL 2021
they’re doing next. Before we knew it, we were talking to the franchise.” The couples opened Stumpy’s Hatchet House at 515 Rear West Chocolate Ave., Hershey, in an old Hershey Company warehouse on Nov. 21 with a two-week soft opening. The grand opening was held Dec. 4, but they were shut down by Covid closures a week later. Since reopening in January, Cori Summers and Kati Dalton said business has been great. “Each week is better than the last,” Summers said. As the name implies, Stumpy’s features axe throwing, and what has really helped this new business in tough times is its cavernous space. The building capacity is 550 people, but it features only 15 throwing pits, each with a limit of 10 people. Even at maximum occupancy, Stumpy’s would have only 150 customers. Axe throwing is also pretty natural social distancing. Also in late 2020, the Autobahn Indoor Speedway at 1001 Bosler Avenue in Lemoyne added one axe throwing lane in the lobby area, a concept that nine of the 10 franchises now offer. People waiting to race cars can throw five times for free if the lane with two targets has
“This is just for fun and entertainment. We don’t encourage people to replace their mental health professionals with this.” — Charlynn Robinson, Therapy Rage Room owner
