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Following a busy weekend at Akron Break Room, fragments of glass, plastic and other materials litter the ground. This unconventional spot is dedicated to cathartic object breaking: Everything supplied to customers can be destroyed. Inside its four colorfully lit, speaker-enabled break rooms, patrons can smash electronics, wine bottles, glass, mugs and more — taking pent-up anger or frustration out on inanimate items.
“There’s music in every single room, so the noise is just insane,” says Andrew Bonarrigo, general manager of the business, which was originally founded in 2021. “We’ll just hear, Woo! out of one end, and Woo! over here — just people screaming and going crazy. It’s wild.”
Co-founded by Marine Corps. veteran Ben Baker, Akron Break Room expanded into its current location around a year ago. It provides a space to work through difficult emotions — recently, a group of child bereavement nurses booked a session. According to assistant manager Trevor Jordan, the break room’s customer base leans female.
“Women have come up here to go through breakups. They go through divorces,” Jordan says. “There’s a lot of frustration. … This helps a lot.”
Customers can choose from several packages — priced according to the number of participants, time spent smashing and items available to break. The business obtains its inventory from myriad local sources, including Baker’s other business, Summit e-Waste Recycling Solutions.
“We’re an electronics recycling center,” Bonarrigo says. “That affords us opportunities to be able to do a break room, because most of our supplies come from our own company.”
After suiting up in a full-body jumpsuit, work gloves and face shield, customers are given crowbars or aluminum bats — and can let loose on various breakables.
“Lamps are cool. The liquor bottles are awesome,” says Bonarrigo, who notes that a car-smashing experience is in the works. “We will get mirrors. We’ll get coffee cups. We get some really crazy-looking stuff, like ceramic statutes.”
For a gentler, more creative option, Akron Paint Room — located in the same building — offers a chance to get artistic. Its black walls, ceiling and floor become a canvas for gallons of glow-in-the-dark pigment. Guests are given canvases and brushes, as well as more unconventional tools — such as water guns and a drum set.
“You could put the paint on the drums and beat on them,” Jordan says. “It’ll just splash up.”
No matter which experience guests choose, they’re purchasing the chance to revel in chaos.
“We have so many people that come out here in the lobby and be like, I didn’t know how bad I needed that,” Bonarrigo says. //
530 Grant St., Akron, 330-388-3952, akronbreakroom.com
