Update on my arcade: Merging and expanding!

Shaggy December 11, 2008 9

I haven’t had much to update on my arcade as of late although there is some news I’d like to pass along for any of those who have been keeping track of our progress.

file0076

The lovely parking lot mess outside

First off the bad news – the mall where we are located will be giving us the boot sometime towards the beginning of January to make way for a new mall entrance/sidewalk. It seems as though there are no other locations available at the mall, at least that is what I have been told and it’s pretty frustrating since this is five months before our lease was up. There have been plenty of challenges we’ve had to face at this location, from no AC throughout a majority of the summer, to constant roadwork happening right outside our door (in fact, they have ripped up more holes in front of my store than any other part of the mall which closes the road in front of us – in some cases they have had to go back and rip up the same place more than once which looks to me like very bad planning. Some of the construction handiwork is pictured to the right but that is just the view from the door, it’s even worse when you go outside and look around), not having enough foot traffic in front as I expected, etc. And with this unexpected move it puts a strain on us just as we are really starting to catch some steam but despite all that stuff I think that we have done well, especially for an arcade with only one redemption game.

For the good news, we are going to merge with another arcade and expand greatly on top of what we already have. I cannot divulge any details on the location yet but my new partner has a bit of experience in arcades already and we will be combining our experience, vision and our game collections together to make one arcade that will pack quite a punch. We are going to have some very unique games, a much expanded category of arcade, pinball and redemption games and just an overall larger space. More details will be forthcoming as to the location and the games we’ll have as well as to when this will all take place (naturally we will be keeping all of the games we currently have). After looking through our options with the mall eviction, this was the best way for us to move into what we’ve been wanting to do in creating a larger and even more exciting game experience.

[Discuss on the Forum]

9 Comments »

  1. Slonie December 11, 2008 at 10:07 pm - Reply

    Sucks that you’ve been forced out after putting all the work into your current location, but it sounds like you’re making a move for the better!

  2. ECM December 11, 2008 at 11:14 pm - Reply

    Congrats on the expansion!

  3. Shaggy December 11, 2008 at 11:30 pm - Reply

    Thanks guys, I think that it will be a very positive change for us. I honestly can’t wait to get it in gear but these things will take time and work. Still, the final ‘product’ of the place will be something that should entice players from all over the area.

  4. Editor December 12, 2008 at 1:18 am - Reply

    Keep the faith, and good luck on the new developments.

  5. Phil Arrington December 12, 2008 at 8:30 am - Reply

    I’m glad things are looking up for ya man

  6. Dave K. December 13, 2008 at 3:14 am - Reply

    Now thats making the best of a bad situation! Best of luck shaggy, can’t wait to learn more. I hope you got some compensation for them terminating the lease early.

  7. fubarduck December 14, 2008 at 3:17 pm - Reply

    Good to hear you’re getting some steam, I’m sure you’ll be able to do something great with your combined forces. Keep us updated!

  8. Smidget December 15, 2008 at 5:19 pm - Reply

    Glad to hear there’s a positive side to the story. Look forward to unveiling!

  9. Molloy December 16, 2008 at 2:11 pm - Reply

    Nice one. I think this is a good decision. Large locations seem to be important to keep people interested. It’ll hopefully give you more options to fill out your selection as well.

Leave A Response »