With years of practice troubleshooting arcade games and serving up craft beers at two Chicago arcade bars, the people behind Lincolnshire’s newest entertainment venue opened Emporium Lake County on New Year’s Day.
“Everybody’s informed, all the time, on how to deal with a coin jam or replace a fuse,” said Manager Roger DeVito on New Year’s Eve, while getting his bar set up for the next day opening. “A stuck quarter, literally, that’s a three-second fix.”
Located in the former Champps spot of Lincolnshire’s CityPark shopping center is the suburban offshoot of Emporium Arcade Bar Chicago, owned by brothers Daniel and Doug Marks. They’ve operated locations in Chicago’s Wicker Park and Logan Square neighborhoods for several years.
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The new outpost includes 24 stand-up games, another eight pinball machines, bubble hockey, foosball, billiards and more. All three of their locations have a full bar, but where the Logan Square facility has food trucks parked inside, Lincolnshire has its own kitchen, churning out New York-style pizzas.
“A slice takes two hands,” DeVito said. “They’re huge.
“Our focus and specialty is on craft beers,” he added, pointing out the taps currently dedicated to Chicago-area brewers.
But he and the Marks brothers now face the question of marketing. Family-friendly arcade chains like Dave & Buster’s have flourished in some suburbs, but Emporium is age 21 and over, begging the question of whether or not it can be successful in Lake County.
DeVito leans forward, puts both elbows on his shining-clean new bar and pulls on his black beard. A few strands of gray show through. He talks about Libertyville’s successful downtown, the area’s growing population, the ease of access along Milwaukee Avenue.
“We plan on being that Lake County hub,” DeVito said.
And they plan on being the adult-oriented home of kids’ fun. DeVito spoke of hosting pinball tournaments, as they do in Chicago, and promised that no video game will ever be disabled for long. The business does not have any kind of insurance policy on them, he said, but does have connections with several repair services, which keep the machines in Logan Square operational. The Marks brothers found the selection themselves, he said.
“I bet the companies who made these games never thought these games would be working at this point,” DeVito said.
Twitter: @RonnieAtPioneer