Raging Bad, a new Rio Rancho business, lets people take out their frustrations by breaking things, while in safety gear so they don’t get hurt. Amy Byres photo.
A new business in Rio Rancho encourages angry customers to stop by and break things.
Raging Bad is a rage room at 3301 Southern Blvd., Suite 501. Rooms are filled with breakable items and a selection of bats and golf clubs that can be used to smash everything in that room; yelling and screaming are encouraged.
“It is a safe place where you can come and be able to do that, and at the end of it, you don’t have to clean up, you don’t have to feel any guilt about breaking anything; everything was in that room to be broken to begin with,” said co-owner Julieta Neas.
Stefani Loe and Neas started this business after working together for five years at a smoke shop Neas owned in Albuquerque.
This is Rio Rancho’s first rage room.
They said starting a business in Rio Rancho has been amazing.
“It has been a positive experience dealing with everyone. The city has been great, very responsive. We also had the chamber of commerce come in, and so they are great to work with as well. And the people in this area have been really welcoming to us. We have had a really good reaction for business,” Neas said.
They initially wanted to open up their own smoke shop together but couldn’t find a space in the right location, Loe said.
“We wanted to do something together that would belong to us,” Loe said.
After talking about several different ideas, Loe’s husband suggested a rage room.
After researching the concept, they discovered the first rage room began in Japan in 2008, called The Venting Place, Neas said.
“So they were in a recession and they decided to open up a rage room to help people deal with the stress,” Neas said.
Raging Bad has a variety of custom packages for people to bring in their own items to break, if they would like.
“We are going to have divorce parties and break-up parties and that type of stuff, and you can bring a picture of that person that just hurt your feelings,” Neas said.
They will include group packages for companies to bring employees for fun rage team-building exercises, they said.
Though rage is encouraged at this local business, safety is a priority. Customers must have close-toed shoes and wear safety gear the staff provides, including a plastic safety mask, as well as sign a waiver and be at least 15 years old.
“We don’t want people with younger kids to feel like they can’t come here. So we are going to have in one of our rooms a piñata, and let the kids break a piñata while their parents break glass,” Loe said.
Raging Bad had its first day of business on March 7.
“We have had a pretty good reaction but people aren’t quite sure what it is. We have to explain it to them, so we take them to the rooms and we show them what it is about and how it works. A lot of them have come in on their own and they say, ‘This is a place I need to be with my friend,'” Loe said.
Raging Bad is open every day and caters to walk-ins; call 588-7243 to set up an appointment.
