Back to the Arcade - Allentown PA

[Draco1962]

Totally sick!  Located in the South Mall.

3300 Lehigh St, Allentown, PA 18103

 

[hansolo77]

I saw this recently in my Youtube time wasting.  What gets me, malls are going away.  Everybody just orders online.  There's no reason for them anymore.  I'd hate to be a business, with a great plan in mind (an arcade) just to be the only store open out of 100 possible stores.  To make it look good (like they did) you have to spend so much money getting the games, paints, carpet, etc for the atmosphere.  They even have open glass windows in the front.  In my neighborhood, somebody would break in and steal all that stuff in one night.  Granted, they probably have those metal bar things to close up at night.  But still.  A completely dead mall, with nothing but homeless people and bums "living" there, and here's this mega awesome arcade.  My area had 3 malls.  2 of them are completely shut down and boarded up until they're demolished.  The only one remaining is completely boarded up, with a makeshift plywood door to the entrance where you can go in and sit for hours in the BMV waiting to renew your license.  It's full of illegal aliens from Mexico AND Somalia (mostly from Somalia).  It's a trashy, dingy place where every thing IN the mall is boarded up.  Not at all like I remember it as a kid.  I'd hate to be these guys building an arcade in there.  I hope nothing bad happens.

I'd open up a storefront somewhere else.  But hard to compete with Dave & Busters (never been there).

[tthurman]

There's a couple here in KnoxVegas, but they aren't in malls.  We're down to one mall now, the other remaining one was recently razed in favor of an Amazon distribution warehouse, proving the above point!  Our other mall is alive and doing quite well, judging from the crowds anyway.  

I'm seeing the arcade scene here in the hot areas of town, where restaurant/bar scene is alive and well in also revitalized urban areas that are designed to be walkable outdoor spaces.

These two are the two I'm most familiar with, aside from Main Event (who Dave and Busters just bought)

https://suttreeshighgravitytavern.com/

https://tokengametavern.com/

You'll find many more once you get into the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg area, but it's a nightmare with all the tourists.

[tthurman]

I should say that the arcade in the OP is super nice, most certainly next level from a true retro perspective.