When Briana DeArco’s oldest child was a toddler, she’d head to Target just to get out of the house and grab a coffee. It wasn’t the shopping she craved — it was simply somewhere to go with her little one in tow.
- “I always felt like there wasn’t anything over here where we could just go indoors and relax and play,” said DeArco, a Navarre resident who has lived in the area for about eight years.
That gap in the community inspired DeArco and her husband Christian to create Café & Play, a new venue opening Monday at 437 Mary Esther Cutoff NW, Suite A (off Jonquil), that combines a coffee shop with an indoor play space designed for children ages 6 months to 7 years.
The 9 a.m. opening will mark the debut of what DeArco says is the first venue of its kind in the area—a place where parents can sip lattes while their children explore age-appropriate play zones in a supervised environment.
The facility features multiple play areas, including climbing structures with slides, a construction zone with toy bricks and tools, and a pretend kitchen complete with store and ice cream shop setups. A separate space caters specifically to the youngest visitors.
- “We didn’t want any little babies getting stepped on, so we have an area that has some soft play things strictly for our crawlers so they can just wander around without having to worry about getting hurt,” DeArco explained.
The café side will offer cappuccinos, matcha, Americanos with various flavors, lemonades, pastries and children’s snacks like goldfish crackers. DeArco said the menu may expand based on customer feedback.
Café & Play will operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekends, with earlier weekend closings to accommodate birthday party bookings. Parties include exclusive facility access and 30 minutes of setup time, with families welcome to bring their own food and decorations.
For DeArco, who homeschools her two children ages 7 and 3 with her husband—a Navarre native—the business is more than a service gap filled. She envisions it as a gathering place where families can form lasting connections.
- “My hopes are just that moms feel really good and happy coming in and that they know their kids will be safe,” she said. “I just want to make sure everybody’s happy and they can come in and their kids can start recognizing each other. It’s all about building a community.”
More information is available on the business’s Facebook page.