The collector market is alive and well during the pandemic as evidenced by two reports from the field. First, Rock-Ola’s Glenn Streeter says new owner Alexander Walder-Smith is opening up the jukebox factory this coming Monday, May 18. Streeter said, “With everybody quarantined – and since they’re not going to be jumping on airplanes or traveling anytime soon – they are looking for more ways to entertain themselves at home. We’re getting more retail sales every week.” Visit Rock-Ola online at www.rock-ola.com. RePlay also checked in with former coin-opper Jeff Walker of the Mantiques Network, a retailer of premium vintage…
Author: Matt Harding
EightyOne, a new arcade bar in downtown Sioux Falls, S.D., is set to open this month with safety measures that meet City Hall’s rules for entertainment businesses (South Dakota is one of the few places that remained open for business during the coronavirus pandemic). Owner Errol Stewart partnered up with Dan Myers, a former deli owner who operated in the space EightyOne is moving into. Myers, who was looking to focus more on his catering business, will add a menu of gourmet meals to the arcade bar’s lineup of offerings, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Stewart, meanwhile, has…
Calling all reopening or reopening soon bowling centers! QubicaAMF recently shared a free marketing kit for operators that includes social posts, email templates, labels, outdoor signage and more to get you ready for reopening. Click here for the free download. The kit is designed in an 8.5” x 11” format that allows centers to print materials in-house as needed, or have items professionally printed. It’ll be updated with new content as centers continue to open across the country. Additionally, the technical team at QubicaAMF is available to assist centers with free reopening technical support. Visit www.qubicaamf.com/support for more details or…
BMI Merchandise, like a lot of companies in the industry, has been working to find ways to help operators as they plan to reopen, specifically how to “do more with less.” With the goal of “Moving Fun Forward TOGETHER,” the company is promoting how its “Integrated Redemption Technology” can streamline operations and reduce expenses. Specifically, this tech enables BMI to oversee all aspect of a location’s inventory management, which they say decreases labor costs and also reduces inventory expenses with its just-in-time replenishment. Among other pluses is their free merchandise barcoding with the location’s customized point values resulting in quick…
Connecting history with today’s pandemic, industry veteran Nick DiMatteo wrote about the significance of today’s date in history in an inspirational message to the trade: “While the original Chinese meaning of crisis is ‘danger at a point of juncture,’ many business people, politicians and motivational speakers will use the Western reinterpretation of ‘danger-plus-opportunity.’ On this day let’s use the latter. “For some of us, the ones we love are in danger and there is no denying that life as we know it will change. In the midst of this change, what will be the opportunity? “It’s important to remember that…
Pixeled, an arcade brewery in Fargo, N.D., is back up and running with some new guidelines in place to keep patrons distanced. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum allowed bars to reopen on May 1 under a set of rules called “ND Smart Restart.” As a taproom and arcade, the business says it’s taken extra steps with bottles of hand sanitizer that line the bar, seats moved six feet apart and ensuring patrons don’t stand at the bar for extended periods of time, according to Inforum. Where the arcade is concerned, general manager Nick Hill said every other machine is turned…
In the rush to go “contactless,” cashless systems provider Intercard is putting the kibosh on the notion that game cards and credit cards aren’t safe to use, noting that mobile phones are germ devices in their new “Pay It Safe” campaign. “Guests are taking an unnecessary risk of exposure to COVID-19 by paying with mobile phones at an arcade,” said Intercard CEO Scott Sherrod. “Informing customers that credit cards and game cards are less likely to spread germs and viruses than mobile phones is crucial as operators get ready for a return to business.” That’s why Intercard is offering their…
In his latest blog, Randy White, CEO of White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, examines data from a recent Morning Consult poll that shows how soon people are ready to return to out-of-home entertainment activities. The poll asked: Based on what you know about the coronavirus, when do you expect to do the following (which included going out to eat at a restaurant, going to an amusement park and more). The results didn’t vary too much by income, but did by educational attainment. See the details at www.whitehutchinson.com and subscribe to White’s blog here.
After a bad fall in late April that put him back in a wheelchair, 83-year-old industry inventor Steve Shoemaker has decided to slow down a bit and sell his Paper Ticket Experts company, which he says has “many good, satisfied customers and has had 20 successful, profitable years of operation” including 2019. Paper Ticket Experts has three Flexographic printing presses, patents, individual location print rollers, perforation dies, ink, pallets of paper and all necessary operational utensils. To learn more about it, visit www.paperticketexperts.com. While Shoemaker says he is stepping back, the multi-patent holder is quick to add that he fully…
The technology company SUZOHAPP has created a new line of products aimed at helping amusement centers and casinos meet new regulations so they can reopen and operate safely. Called the Personal Protection Line, a key component is their face-detection thermometer module. “This tablet-styledevice will signal an alarm in less than a second if it senses an abnormal temperature,” the company said. Many facilities that reopen as stay-at-home restrictions are lifted have implemented such protocols. Other products from the line include disposable masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, hand wipes, sanitizing equipment, social distancing stanchions and more. Go to www.suzohapp.com for more information.