Jennifer Burton and her husband opened the Grinning Goblin back in 2018. The building was empty with no walls.

A couple months ago, they were forced to temporarily close because of COVID-19. Now, they’ve decided they won’t reopen their doors at all. “I would rather close to prevent people from getting sick, that I hold dear to my heart, that I consider family and I mean it’s just not worth it to me.”

Last week their landlord demanded rent for the past two months and they just don’t have the money. Consumers native to Wichita are sad to see another local business close. 

“It makes me angry that the landlord put them in this predicament with everything going on and just that they would let something like this happen instead of working with them," says Ally Harrelsoncrowell, Wichita resident. 

She says all you have to do is look around, she’s proud of the diversity in the area. “I think it’s what makes Wichita so great, what makes Wichita so cultural that there’s always something different. There’s something for everybody here.”

Shops close by are worried about what this could mean for business. 

“One of the reasons why we moved here is because they were nearby and we kind of played well off of each other. People went there and then would come here," says Bryan Voight, Store Manager at Hero Haven.

Burton says it was a hard decision to make, but it was the right one. “I’m sad to see it go. We really were a home for a lot of people and I didn’t really expect the amount of support we got over this, it kind of blew me away.”

Burton tells us another local gaming shop in downtown Wichita closed their doors for good this week. But she wants her customers to know, they’ll be back someday, just at a different location.