Help Erik's Journey to Reopen Sunflower Arcade

My name is Leila and I’m fundraising to help my friend, Erik Pye. Due to pressure from the City, his store, Sunflower Glass Company in the West Village needs to transition into a cyber café. Once this transition is complete, Erik can reopen the Sunflower Arcade Lounge, and comedy shows can resume!

The temporary closure has been distressing for many people in the community, for whom Erik's store has become a type of sanctuary. Because we all want to support Erik and the community space, we are setting up a GoFundMe campaign to help Erik transition his shop into a café and successfully reopen the Arcade Lounge.

The comedy shows have brought up and coming comedians and clowns from all over the world to perform. The community really loved these shows as evidenced by the over 200 five-star reviews the comedy club has received.

For those of you who don’t know Erik…

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He is a U.S. Army Veteran, a graduate of The Cooper Union, a daring artist, and a generous, loyal friend. His other friends and I have cheered him on as he’s cultivated his small businesses over the past 16 years, from vending on the sidewalk on Sixth Avenue, to transforming a former travel agency storefront into a warm, charming and friendly shop known as Sunflower Glass Company. Over the years, Erik has provided jobs, expanded his shops, and eventually opened the inviting space on Thompson Street in the Village where he curated and installed vintage ‘80s arcade games and meticulously designed and created a community space where comedy and art could flourish.

Erik’s shop is the kind of place that people dream about when they imagine moving to New York City: A place where stimulating conversations with diverse interesting people are happening in a uniquely designed space. Those things are happening because Erik is a small business owner who’s truly one of a kind and built his space intentionally to foster art and community.

We hope you will help Erik transition the business into a cyber café and help re-open the arcade comedy lounge. No amount is too small or too large - every little bit helps! Thank you for your support and please help us spread the word!