Believing the business closed permanently, Lincolnshire officials recently canceled the liquor license of Emporium Lake County, an arcade and bar that shuttered abruptly without much explanation nearly seven months after opening in the village.
Emporium closed for business in early August, posting a sign that said they closed because of “renovations” after the Chicago-based entertainment venue expanded in January to Lincolnshire to try and tap into a suburban market. But village officials at the time couldn’t reach owners Doug and Danny Marks to clarify whether the closing was permanent.
On Aug. 22, village board members canceled the business’ liquor license, believing Emporium will not re-open in Lincolnshire, said Mayor Liz Brandt.
“We are sad that they closed their doors,” Brandt said. “It’s not the Millennial, downtown crowd that’s going to party there.”
Located in the CityPark commercial center, Emporium Lake County featured stand-up arcade games from the 1980s and 1990s, along with a full bar of craft beers and a kitchen. The Marks brothers founded Emporium Arcade Bar in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood in 2012 and later opened a second location in the nearby Logan Square neighborhood.
Those two Chicago locations remain open. If the two owners do reopen the Lincolnshire location in the immediate future, they could still serve pizza and offer video games, but they would no longer be able to serve alcohol unless they successfully re-applied for a liquor license.
Reached in late August, both brothers declined to comment about Emporium’s future in Lincolnshire.
During meetings with the Marks in 2015, village board members openly questioned whether the demographics of Lincolnshire would work for the combined bar and arcade, doubting that a nighttime crowd in the village could support the business.
The brothers at the time said they usually keep their locations busy during weekdays with special gatherings and corporate events, which allow outside catering. The corporate conference crowd in Lincolnshire could have been a natural fit for that side of the business.
Brandt recently said that she had been “cautiously optimistic” about Emporium’s chances in Lincolnshire.
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Village officials did want to see the owners set aside more time for alcohol-free kids’ parties. They made that change this summer, but the effort and other moves apparently did not do enough to bolster business, Brandt said.
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