Chilliwack café owner launches last-ditch effort to keep venue open

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CHILLIWACK/SARDIS – The owner of a local café is making a last-ditch effort to keep her operation afloat, and she’s hoping the community supports her through a grassroots membership drive.

Serene Stay & Play Café owner Jenny Sawatzky disseminated an online appeal to social media this past week in which she outlined the financial challenges she faces, including monthly rent, utility costs, employee salary expenses, and the cost of goods sold, just to name a few.

The café was opened in Sardis just off Vedder Road in late 2025 with an underlying goal of giving families, kids, gamers and friends a venue where they could disconnect from screen time and connect over coffee and tabletop games. From its inception, the venue was designed to be a welcoming space for families and game enthusiasts alike. Unlike traditional early-morning coffee shops, Serene Stay & Play Cafe is tailored to those looking for relaxation, connection, or just recreation.

But rising costs have put the café’s future in jeopardy. As of Thursday, Nov. 12, the venue is technically closed unless people step up to help.

Sawatzky says she has only 30 days to reach her goal of selling 1,000 memberships at a cost of $10 per month. To protect her immediate lease, she says she needs to receive 300 supporter spots by November 16.

“Serene is Chilliwack’s board game & coffee community hub,” Serene Stay and Play’s website said. “We are taking pledges to fill 1,000 real supporter spots to secure our venue and keep our doors open.”

The pledges only activate if 1,000 supporter memberships are achieved.

One of her supporters who works as a technician and operations manager for a local company, Jordan Bilj, says doing business in Chilliwack has gotten ridiculously tough.

“Consumer spending is way down, yet commercial landlords are still asking for completely unrealistic rent prices that don’t align with the actual foot traffic a small, independent spot gets,” Bilj said. “On top of that, places like this just don’t have the huge advertising budgets to let people know they even exist.”

The business has hosted all types of get togethers, from game nights to youth outings, nurse practitioner meetings, even all-candidates meetings like the one that was held in October in the lead-up to last month’s municipal election. Dedicated spaces like this can be hard to come by in Chilliwack.

The grassroots membership drive can be located here.