UPDATE: I have since had to move from this location, to another, to yet another. Still in the same mall (Valley Fair which is outside Salt Lake City) but much larger location that the previous ones, inside across from Radio Shack.
As I had hoped, I signed the documentation today to secure a location for my arcade! It’s been a long time coming and it obviously is a bit different than I always imagined but that always seems to happen. I still have a ways to go before I arrive at what I plan on doing eventually but this is a start. For now here are the pictures of what it looks like now, I’ll have to upload some video later but this should do for now in showing what it’s like “before” and by the end of the month it should be packed with arcade games. It certainly will be interesting to watch it transform into an arcade. The last business there was a tax place, which closed as tax season ended.
In other good news I found out that I don’t have to have my business license in hand to get the SBA Loan – just a receipt showing that I started the process which is much better as if I had to wait until I received the license that would be cutting it very close and I want to have all the new stuff in on day one. The plan is to be open by June 2nd so I’ll be working on fixing up the place so it will be ready which it should be as I don’t have a ton to do – just add some electrical, paint it, add a desk and then the machines. Once I am done it should look great, so stay tuned. I also have registered a website for it (although it’s not ready yet) and will work on that as I have time. Either way, if you live in Utah then you should be able to visit it, if you know where the Valley Fair Mall is then it should be easy to find as it will be outside the mall next to the Red Robin. I can hardly wait!
I’m not crazy about the closet spaces there, three is a little much but I’ll have to see what I can do with that. It also has a little room in a back like a break room which needs a little cleaning and then should be ok.
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This is great! Are you going to be around next Tuesday? We’ll be in West Valley picking up a few games. Maybe we could stop by!
-Jarett
Absolutely, I will probably be there in the afternoon sometime after 1PM I imagine. It’s just too bad that I won’t have any games inside yet. 😉
Game Grid, great name. Are you going for a TRON inspired aesthetic as well?
Yes I am – which is going to take a lot of work but in the end I think it will look awesome. Yesterday I started by pulling the ceiling tiles down and painting them black while leaving the the tile hangers white so the entire ceiling will look like a grid. Then, I will paint the walls black and then accent all of the edges with a certain color. I haven’t decided what the highlights will be though – maybe blue since that was mostly the good color in the movie but I’m also leaning towards green as I think it will also look pretty nice. I am thinking of doing a game history mural on top of that but that’s something I’ll do if I have the time for it.
Man you got some guts opening an arcade in 2008, I applaud you.
What type of arcade are you going to make? Retro? Kiddie? Pin-Heavy?
Niceeee!!……..
There are a number of people that see Shaggy’s arcade plans as mad in 2008 – on the contrary I would point them to the Dave & Buster’s profit this year, or the Chuck E. Cheese profits!!?
I. Want.
Please get a Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune cab and some shmups if possible. I will be your biggest customer. 🙂
I do have Blazing Star already – there is a possibility of me getting a Mars Matrix although I do not know if the cabinet has the board or not. I also will try and get Under Defeat. (I like shmups too)
As for a Wangan Midnight Tune – I have only seen one of those once, they are definently uncommon. It’s too bad that WMT3 is so expensive as it’s a killer game but way too pricey for my budget.
Either way I will keep in mind games that people request most often. 🙂