Sorry to hear Steve, I popped by for the first time a couple of months back and had a great time getting to play machines I've not had much of chance playing down here in the south west.
I'm in a similar position myself with the lease of our arcade 'about-to-be-turned-into-residential-flats' industrial unit now coming to an end and having not yet found a new venue to move to, and wondering if all the financial pressure is worth the hassle. I also venue hunted in Birmingham, some of the railway arch units around places in Digbeth back in 2010 when it was quiet. I waivered a bit not making any decision and then everything got snapped up and a hipster explosion occurred. That's when I learned not to dither around when selecting a location.
We opened in 2020, and immediately closed again until re-opening summer 2021, which certainly was a real challenge. Plus I never got round to installing a bar and completing the kitchen as intended due to not knowing what the future held and being reluctant to commit further expenditure.
I can see there being demand for arcades and we have a lot of grateful customers telling us they're happy to have us open but I can see with my own eyes that the footfall in our location is nothing like it once was in 2019, and things are definitely starting to tail off again. Would I say it's worthwhile keeping a venue running or opening a new one? I'm not 100% sure although I'm willing to look for a smaller venue and focus more on pinballs as we've only got six tables at the moment and most of our cabs are the staple barcade selection of video games.
While the pinballs aren't the most played of all our machines, they do generate the most 'first time' experiences for our customers who have largely never played pinball before, and that's always satisfying to watch. Seeing people become addicted to machines they've never seen in real life, machines made decades before they were born, like I guess we all were once captivated in our youths - that gives me a sense of achievement in opening an arcade.
So I can recommend opening a place for that, I don't think it'll make you rich though. I know that the barcades that do well only ever see machines as a secondary concern, as the lure to get people in through the door. Once people get in then the drinks, loud waffling and standing in front of the machines and not actually playing them takes over. And that's not a place I'de ever like to run personally, that's the business model to get the venture capital money guys in.
It would be nice to see this country get a pinball museum up and running, it'll need some rich benefactor though as the cost of commercial space in this country is ridiculous, specially down here in the south. It will always be tied to land cost, which will always be ruled by residential and the ever only upwards rise. Councils don't give a flying eff about commercial units now, they're in it for the student, co-living and luxury flats.
Whatever happens I wish you all the best.
Steve J, Boneyard Arcade.
I'm in a similar position myself with the lease of our arcade 'about-to-be-turned-into-residential-flats' industrial unit now coming to an end and having not yet found a new venue to move to, and wondering if all the financial pressure is worth the hassle. I also venue hunted in Birmingham, some of the railway arch units around places in Digbeth back in 2010 when it was quiet. I waivered a bit not making any decision and then everything got snapped up and a hipster explosion occurred. That's when I learned not to dither around when selecting a location.
We opened in 2020, and immediately closed again until re-opening summer 2021, which certainly was a real challenge. Plus I never got round to installing a bar and completing the kitchen as intended due to not knowing what the future held and being reluctant to commit further expenditure.
I can see there being demand for arcades and we have a lot of grateful customers telling us they're happy to have us open but I can see with my own eyes that the footfall in our location is nothing like it once was in 2019, and things are definitely starting to tail off again. Would I say it's worthwhile keeping a venue running or opening a new one? I'm not 100% sure although I'm willing to look for a smaller venue and focus more on pinballs as we've only got six tables at the moment and most of our cabs are the staple barcade selection of video games.
While the pinballs aren't the most played of all our machines, they do generate the most 'first time' experiences for our customers who have largely never played pinball before, and that's always satisfying to watch. Seeing people become addicted to machines they've never seen in real life, machines made decades before they were born, like I guess we all were once captivated in our youths - that gives me a sense of achievement in opening an arcade.
So I can recommend opening a place for that, I don't think it'll make you rich though. I know that the barcades that do well only ever see machines as a secondary concern, as the lure to get people in through the door. Once people get in then the drinks, loud waffling and standing in front of the machines and not actually playing them takes over. And that's not a place I'de ever like to run personally, that's the business model to get the venture capital money guys in.
It would be nice to see this country get a pinball museum up and running, it'll need some rich benefactor though as the cost of commercial space in this country is ridiculous, specially down here in the south. It will always be tied to land cost, which will always be ruled by residential and the ever only upwards rise. Councils don't give a flying eff about commercial units now, they're in it for the student, co-living and luxury flats.
Whatever happens I wish you all the best.
Steve J, Boneyard Arcade.
