DANVILLE, Va. — A new business is slated to take the place of Lynn Street Market, which closed just two weeks ago.
Christina and John Grothe are planning to open River City Barcade in the former market around Nov. 1.
As the name suggests, River City Barcade is both a bar and an arcade. Owners envision it as a place to grab a drink with friends while enjoying an active night of interactive games, adding to the nightlife of the growing City of Danville.
Owner John Grothe, who is also a partial owner of 716 Wings on Piney Forest Road, gave more detail into the dream of the establishment itself.
“Our concept is that we’ll put in a full bar with an arcade,” he said. “Our game plan is to have interactive games, where people will have to going to actually have to physically get up and move around and participate.”
Grothe emphasized the active nature of the planned establishment.
“It’s not going to be like somebody’s house where you sit around and play X Box,” he said. “We’re looking at more interactive games where people can get up and play as groups.”
Grothe is hoping for large crowds at River City Barcade.
“For bigger groups we’re going to have a friendship table that runs right down the middle of it that fits 20 people besides the bar,” he said. “Of course we’ll have smaller tables here and there, but the concept is to have a location where you can come and meet new people.”
Grothe’s plans are ambitious, but he will need to go at the city’s own pace.
“We have a big game plan for it. Again, we want to go ahead and get everything rolling here, but we got to get the city on board with it and make sure they’re ok with it,” he said. “What we’re really waiting on is the city inspectors, our liquor license, the health inspector and things like that.”
For Grothe, River City Barcade will be the first of many steps in adding to Danville’s entertainment options.
“We’re really trying to build an entertainment district,” Grothe said. “The Barcade will be the anchor of entertainment district. Really we want to build up [on Lynn Sreet].”
Grothe noted that there is much to be desired in having an active entertainment scene in Danville.
“We have to have an entertainment district in Danville here. We have to have something,” he said. “People that come in, they come in on business and they have to go to Greensboro if they want to do anything. There’s no interactive things to do here except for [Grizzly’s Hatchet House], they’re great by the way.”
Grothe has further plans for after River City Barcade has been established on Lynn Street.
“We’re going to try to get a comedy club going down there for weekly shows. A place where we can have music, comedy and magicians. You know, some type of entertainment,” he said. “The Barcade is just the first leg of that [development].”