“People could go online and order a kit, and we provide all the materials and instructions to do at home and we’ve continued to expand on that as time’s gone on,”

Estes said it’s been a therapy for a lot of her customers. The number of take-home kits sold has slowed down now as the shop is back to hosting in-person events.

“We’re waiving private party fees right now so people can keep groups lower (in number) so it’s just family if they want and still be comfortable,” Estes said.

Summer is typically a slow time for the shop, but Estes hosted youth camps for kids due to many activities being canceled, and those were extremely popular, she said.

“We did a camp where they could come every day for four days and some of them wanted to come back because they still didn’t have anything to do, so now we’ve put on all-day workshops,” Estes said.

Estes has been surprised at how many people want to gather for workshops after being away from each other for so long.

“People are really craving that time together, so a workshop that might last about two hours (now) lasts three,” Estes said.

The shop also is selling a variety of adult and youth decorative masks that have been selling out recently with kids going back to school.

Axe Factor is another business seeing similar trends with people coming back in after it reopened. Co-owner Matt Wieners said the numbers aren’t nearly what they used to be, but he’s seeing more people wanting to do activities, including the business’ regulars.

“They were eager to get out and do something and we have a couple groups that come in every week or every other,” Wieners said.

The pace of business was expected, but in order to follow guidelines and keep everyone safe, Axe Factor now gives one group a whole bay with two targets, which cuts the occupancy to a third of what it used to be.

Wieners said they’ve done their best to keep everyone spread out and staff is constantly wiping down tables and axes.

While Axe Factor was closed, staff installed lights for the newest addition, cosmic axe throwing.

“People have really enjoyed doing something new that was here before COVID and everybody has a great time when they come in,” Wieners said.

Cosmic axe throwing is offered only on Friday and Saturday nights starting at 7 p.m. Axe Factor also added disc golf in the last month, which has been very popular so far.

Both businesses expect to continue seeing slow and steady numbers, but the owners are hopeful things will pick up during the holiday months, which usually are their busiest seasons.