'Rage Room' Proposed For Site Of Vacant Wawa In Gloucester Township

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Gloucester Township might get a rage room, where patrons can relieve stress by breaking everything in sight. But before anything gets destroyed, the business owners need approval to build it up.

The business — currently entitled Mad Glass, LLC — hopes to build a rage room at the site of a vacant Wawa (1115 N Black Horse Pike). The proposal is on the township zoning board's agenda for Wednesday's meeting.

The first-known rage room opened during the Great Recession — a Tokyo business called The Venting Place, designed for stressed workers, according to WHYY. Since then, they've opened throughout the world.

Rage rooms — sometimes called "smash rooms" — typically allow patrons to rent out a space and smash objects. They're often marketed as an amusing escape and a way to relieve stress — granted, psychologists have mixed opinions on their mental-health impacts.

The proposed establishment in Gloucester Township will feature at least two separate rooms where individuals or groups of up to four can break things. The 3,800-square-foot building on the property will remain the same size, and rooms will be insulated with sound-proofing materials to minimize noise pollution, according to zoning documents.

Mad Glass LLC will offer two separate packages:

• "Shards of Rage": a 20-minute session with 30 breakables, for $30
• "Hot Heads": a 20-minute "all-you-can-break" session, costing $50

Patrons 13 and older will use baseball bats, sledgehammers, golf clubs and crowbars to destroy glass bottles, VHS tapes, flat-screen TVs and other items.

Mad Glass LLC is a disabled veteran-owned business, managed by married couple Tamarris and Shawnte Jenkins.

If approved, the establishment will initially operate from 4-10 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 1-10 p.m. on weekends. As the business grows over a few years, it will likely be open from 12-10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

All participants will need to wear protective equipment. The owners and all future employees will be first-aid certified.

The property, most recently used as a salon, is in the township's Commercial Residential District — a mix of homes, small apartment buildings and businesses less likely to generate heavy traffic. Mad Glass LLC is seeking a use variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment, since rage rooms aren't addressed in the township's zoning policies.

There are only two rage rooms within a one-hour drive of Gloucester Township, while a third is coming soon to Burlington County, according to Mad Glass's market research. Patch reported last month that a smash room will open at Moorestown Mall.

The zoning board meeting begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday.