One of the biggest names in arcade entertainment apparently has their eyes set on Jersey City as Dave & Buster’s appears to be plotting a new outpost in New Jersey’s second largest city.
Sears, formerly one of the largest retailers in the United States, officially announced earlier this month that their two-floor location inside Jersey City’s Newport Centre will be closing in the spring. The store, one of 12 Sears locations left in the country, is the brand’s last remaining brick and mortar in the Garden State.
A “source with knowledge of the plan” told the Jersey Journal yesterday that a Dave & Buster’s is planned for the Sears space. The Texas-based chain, which lets guests “Eat, Drink, Play & Watch Sports Under One Roof,” opened an outpost in Atlantic City late last year.
Dave & Buster’s would need a liquor license to operate at the Newport Mall and a transfer application does not appear to have been made. The facility currently has one liquor license available that is not active, as a Kings of Kobe that served booze on the first floor of the mall closed last year.
The planned Jersey City expansion would give Dave & Buster’s a bigger footprint in New Jersey after not even being allowed to operate in the Garden State until a law change. A state law banning the sale of alcohol alongside amusement games that issue tickets for prizes was axed during the Christie Administration, allowing Dave & Buster’s to open inside Wayne’s Willowbrook Mall in 2017.
The two floors occupied by Sears could easily be divided for two tenants, as the second floor of the space is currently closed off entirely. Another retailer, Primark, announced last year that they were opening a new store in Newport Centre and while the company did not confirm an exact location, it is widely assumed they would take part of the Sears space.
In the meantime, Sears will be celebrating the end of an era in Jersey City. The company, which has operated at Newport Centre since 1987, is currently holding a “going out of business sale” with discounts as high as 70% off.
