Today we are sharing with you the store/arcade space. It’s located in the basement of 502 1st Ave N with just shy of 4,200 sq ft of space.
Our journey for this space is a bit interesting. We had been intending to move into a different basement location along University Dr N and NP Ave. However, the work we wanted to do to that location ended up being outside of our budgeted range for financing.
While this was disappointing, it was recommended that we look at this space at 502 1st Ave N.
We were surprised to find that we loved the new recommendation immediately. It is a bit more expensive, both due to per sq ft rent cost, and being 1,400 sq ft larger than the University Dr location.
This new location on the corner of 5th St and 1st Ave N has better street parking, and foot traffic in addition would be on the edge of the annual Fargo Street Fair route. There are also many other parking alternatives being this much closer to Broadway. We are less than three blocks away from the new RoCo parking ramp. A person is also able to park at the Moorhead Center Mall, and take the free LinkFM bus downtown and back. Next week we will be sharing best routes to get to downtown Fargo, and to our store!
The great thing about having more floor space means that we can have more gaming stations than we originally intended! The way this space is laid out provides us with an easy way to section off the back off for parties and other events like tournaments! Here’s a 3D rendering of our layout, which will provide 24 gaming stations allowing access to the PS4 all the way back to the Atari 2600. We currently have over 4,000 unique titles, and a total inventory over 5,000.
The building was built in 1902, and has seen several renovations and additions. You’ll see exposed brick in our pictures that are original to the building. While we were working on finalizing the lease, our realtor, Jay Nelson from Archer Realty, came across a neat historic picture of the building.
Most of us who are familiar with the area will probably recognize the building looking like this:
The Kilbourne Group has invested a lot into the downtown community, and we are so happy and thankful to be apart of the family!
