Play like a kid, while drinking like an adult
The jangle of coin tokens, clink of glasses brimming with beer and shouts of defeated players fill the air. Bright lights flash from screens lined up in rows, and the clashing noise of games’ beeping sound effects drowns out the chatter of people huddling around the screens.
Arcade games and beer — it’s a typical night at the new attractions in Norfolk. And at 25 to 50 cents per game, it’s easy to spend that spare change you’ve been carrying around in your pocket for weeks.
In the last two months, two arcade bars have popped up in the city, just a few miles from one another. First, Pixels came. It opened in the former Belmont House of Smoke spot in Ghent at the end of March and is much like the neighborhood hangout, focusing on bringing a sense of nostalgia for guests with vintage token machines, neon lights and old signs of former Norfolk businesses hung on the wall. Then Circuit Social arrived. It opened downtown just two weeks ago and is the shiny, new toy in town with its over 12,000 square feet of space filled with arcade games and duckpin bowling, self-serve beer taps and a card-swipe system instead of tokens. Circuit Social’s owner has said a location in Hampton is a possibility.
Though they have entirely different atmospheres, the arcade bars both primarily target adults, unlike decades ago, when arcades would draw in crowds of children to their doors. Now arcades are for the grown-ups — the addition of beer might help with that.
Pixels — owned by Bill Garrett, Shane Jamison, Chris Johnson and Alfred Ragas Jr. — was meant to be a restaurant with a few arcade games at 2117 Colonial Ave. But that idea quickly expanded when the partners decided it could be an entertainment draw as a full arcade bar.
Garrett, Johnson and Ragas own Torch, a beer bar in the Chelsea section of Norfolk. Ragas and Johnson are also partners for Scotty Quixx on Granby Street downtown.
The majority of the people who walk through the doors are either people who grew up during the ’80s and went to arcades as kids or younger adults who have never been to arcades. To the latter, it’s a new concept for entertainment, Jamison said.
“I went to arcades when I was little. I remember when Greenbrier (in Chesapeake) had one there and I would go a couple times a week. But then that stuff started phasing away because PlayStation, Xbox and computer gaming started taking over everything,” Johnson said. “But I think this makes you step back and remember being a kid, and it kind of puts all that stuff aside for a while and lets you have some fun.”
Even the menu tries to stir up some nostalgia with twists on sloppy joes, hot dogs, corn dogs and SpaghettiOs.
Businesses have become creative with drawing in people and getting them to stay in that spot, whether it’s the addition of shuffleboard, trivia nights or scheduled events. Arcade games are just another part of that growth, but thanks to those arcade kids growing up, their audience has shifted.
“When you were a kid, you would go in, play games and get a soda. That was focused strictly on kids. Rarely would you see adults in there unless they were true gamers,” Johnson said. “But now you’re in a restaurant-bar so you can have a beer with your friends and still play games. So it’s definitely catered to older people. But I think that’s where it helps that concept survive.”
By its second weekend of being open at 258 Granby St., Circuit Social was still nearly packed to the walls. Owner Robert Lupica, who has two other locations in Richmond, said he hopes to open more arcade bars across the Southeast. He’s already planning locations in Charlotte and Atlanta.
“I think things repeat themselves in culture and things come back. It changes maybe a tad,” he said. “I think it’s the same thing with the millennials and the parents. They want the ‘old school.’ They want that nostalgia feel.”
Lupica said the Circuit arcade bars in Richmond mostly draw in adults, but lots of families come on the weekends.
“In Richmond, on the weekends, they (adults) almost get a little irritated that there are kids around,” he said. “They want the space to themselves.”
The two arcade bars in Norfolk are within two miles of each other.
“I think there’s enough space in Norfolk and Hampton Roads for them (both) to exist,“Jamison said. ”The novelty we share is games. But as far as the standpoint of how we operate business, it’s very different.”
Lupica was originally interested in Norfolk because it had no arcade bars. But that was before Pixels’ partners revealed their plans.
“No one really likes a lot of competition. But yeah, competition always stirs a better business, right?” Lupica said. “I think there’s room.”
The group behind Pixels decided to place it in Ghent because of the area’s environment.
“It’s Ghent — that’s really it. It’s the crowd that’s in Ghent,” Johnson said. “They’re very artsy, very hipster. They love these kinds of things and we thought it would be a great fit down here.”
The owners added 2,200 square feet to the space by renovating an adjoining storage area. Arcade games are scattered through the space to break up crowds and fit in tables for the restaurant portion. A long bar stretches across the second floor. The bar’s coun
Hampton could be next in budding arcade bar scene
tertop features thousands of coin tokens that were ordered in the wrong size for the game machines.
Older movies and TV shows are played on a projector or on the multiple TVs in the bar. Vintage lunch boxes, VHS tapes and toys from the ‘80s are lined up along shelves — most of the items are from Jamison’s basement.
The partners spent more than $200,000 to renovate the building and purchase games, both vintage and new.
“A lot of that was the games. We bought a lot of games outright. Some companies will lease from other companies and they share the profits,” Jamison said. “But the current arcade bar motto across the country is buy machinery to own upfront. So we put up a pretty big investment upfront to own the games.”
It took close to $2 million for Circuit to get up and running. With renovations including knocking out walls, fireproofing the ceiling and adding several rollup garage doors, the cost added up in addition to the games.
As Lupica opens more locations, he plans to focus on more “social” games that allow for more players, much like the duckpin bowling lanes at the Norfolk spot.
Players mostly fend for themselves once they’re inside. A loaded card-swipe system allows people to self-serve beer from 48 taps, order food at kiosks and play games. Beer is charged by the ounce and is cut off at 32 ounces per card. A staff member will check to see if people are OK to drink more before allowing the card to be used again.
Beyond Norfolk’s lack of arcade bars, its downtown also appealed to Lupica, he said.
“It’s a growing little, cool city. But it also doesn’t have as much social activities in the city here,” he said.
Still, both Pixels and Circuit could be looking at local expansions.
Jamison said the Pixels partners have discussed more locations, but he wouldn’t provide details. Virginia Beach and Hampton are two other cities on Lupica’s radar for potential locations.
Weighing into that decision will be the success of the Norfolk location, but that’s not an overriding concern for him.
Said Lupica: “I think this is the future of food and drinking with some entertainment behind it.” Briana Adhikusuma, 757-222-5349, b.adhikusuma@ pilotonline.com