New business off to a smashing success amid COVID restrictions

There’s a new business in Saskatoon looking to capitalize on all the pent-up anger and frustration brought on in 2020.

Called YXE Smash Therapy Inc., the small location on 71st Street does exactly what you might think it does — annihilate anything in sight.

Magen Mercer stumbled into the smashing success after thinking long and hard about a new way to create some extra cash flow.

Magen Mercer opened Smash Therapy Inc. on Nov. 18 and has already seen a huge demand for bookings in the opening month. (Keenan Sorokan/650 CKOM)

Being an educational assistant who helps students with disabilities, she’s not the first candidate a person would think of to open a business built on the premise of breaking things.

“When COVID kind of killed some college admissions and everything started going online, I figured I’m probably not focused or capable enough to do chemistry and all those difficult classes I was looking at taking,” she said of her aspirations last year.

Looking to expend some frustration of her own, Mercer soon realized there weren’t any local rage rooms or similar businesses within a three-hour drive.

“I figured that would be the career change I had been looking for without going to school,” she said.

Smash Therapy opened on Nov. 18 and has already seen plenty of demand, aided by pandemic frustration and the accompanying restrictions.

For anywhere from $30 to $300 — depending on how many people want to smash things, how many things you would like to smash and for how long — a customer is given a weapon of choice and placed into one of the rooms.

Some customers show up a little apprehensive but are usually heard “maniacally laughing,” according to Mercer.

“I think sometimes it just feels good to do bad things,” she said. “It’s just a one-of-a-kind experience.”

Mercer added there’s also something about the shared experience of breaking items into hundreds of pieces.

“It is a team-building thing, too,” she said. “You go out with co-workers for drinks, you get a little silly and then you’re closer the next day because you have that experience. This is kind of the same thing without the hangover.”

Smashing wine glasses or teacups has pressed Mercer into action as a medic, bandaging up at least one customer so far.

It’s not only the therapeutic nature of destroying things that lifts a person’s spirits at Smash Therapy, there’s some cardio involved too.

“Pretty much everyone comes out sweaty,” Mercer said. “So I keep the warehouse so cold that I’m just shivering in there.”

Mercer doesn’t see any limits on the horizon of where she could take the business if bookings remain steady.

She has explored outdoor spaces in the summer to wreak havoc on old buses or cars.

“It’s just a great outlet for anyone. Whether you’re bored or mad, you can just come in here happy and leave even happier,” Mercer said.