Chaos & Kindness returns with a flash

LACONIA — For the past three months, the Chaos & Kindness store has been closed for a remodel. According to Recycled Percussion frontman Justin Spencer, the store intends to come back with a flash. The store reopens Saturday morning with a new, 10,000-watt search light on the roof to act as a beacon for mental health awareness.

“With the reopening of our store, the primary focus is on mental health,” Spencer said. “All the Chaos & Kindness designs on the clothes have five colors on them, and the five colors represent five people every hour in America who commit suicide. At the end of every day 120 people have committed suicide in America, so our light goes on for 120 minutes as a ray of light in the sky to find their light in the darkness.”

The light will turn on for 120 nightly, from 10 p.m. to midnight. 

“You’ll be able to see it for miles and miles in every direction to represent people who have lost their lives including the 22 veterans every day who commit suicide,” Spencer said. 

May is mental health awareness month, but Spencer says he intends to keep the light up indefinitely. 

As for the reasoning behind this particular display, Spencer highlighted his brand’s commitment to mental health and saw this move as an expansion of those ideals. 

“It’s important to me that we just show that there is a light in the darkness,” Spencer said. 

During the three months the store was shut down for the remodel, Chaos & Kindness continued to pay their employees, and assigned them to help out in local community service projects. As part of its renewal, the store will also  feature a mural painted by Brooklyn-based artist Jason Naylor. According to Spencer, the mural will be 80 by 24 feet.