Arcade offers entertainment alternative to all ages

On the outside it looks a bit small and fairly ordinary with its bland colored canopy, with the windows still decorated for the holidays, the spray on snow concealing the nature of the business making it hard to see inside, a person could thing it’s just another shop along Main Street.

The most color the outside has is the neon open sign and the big yellow sign on the door letting a person know where they are and silently inviting people to visit the Cosmic Quarter.

A deceptive silence because once inside the blend between brightly colored walls, wild print carpet, concession stand like food bar and the sounds of more than a dozen games filling the atmosphere; there is no doubt it’s time to play.

“I have several children of my own and I have a couple girls that babysit for me and being from around here there is nothing for the kids to do,” said Courtney Frnk owner of the arcade.

During a conversation two years ago with a former nanny, a young woman who used to enter pool tournaments, she had mentioned to Frnk about seeing children in bars playing pool while she was at these tournaments.

The idea a child was allowed in a bar was both shocking and foreign to Frnk, “I had never heard of that. Back home they are not even allowed in bars.

“So it kind of gave me an idea. I started asking around, parents who have kids, and the general consensus was there was nothing around here for them to so I started doing my homework and thought ‘why not?’”

In June of 2011 Frnk got a small business loan and bought the arcade.

Because the business was already set up for an arcade she said she didn’t have a lot to do to open by Oct.

“I would have never bought it if I had to do what Frank did,” Frnk spoke of the former owner, “He really did the majority of the work, the carpets, the painting. He did 95 percent of what you see in here.”

Frnk did however have to buy new equipment – such as the games.

“These games are very expensive. Some of these were between $5,000 and $6,000; one of them was $12,000,” Frnk said.

“It’s not a cheap business to go into, as far as the initial costs. Every six to nine months I am going to try and get a new game. More than likely a ticket game, they seem to be the best ones. I’ll be looking for a new game in March.

“It’s funny because kids are very fickle, they play the game once and say ‘what else do you have?’ But I just really want the kids to have a place to go that is safe,” she added.

She has games to tickle anyone’s fancy, from old school pinball to an interactive motorcycle game, games players can win tickets on for a prize to the X-box, but to truly accommodate kids of all ages Frnk added a toddler play area.

“The back was actually storage area, it was nothing but stud walls and very bare. We gutted it and basically created a room that didn’t exist. Specifically for the 2- to 6-year-olds so they have somewhere to go.”

She said it was perfect for older siblings, babysitters or parents to bring children to since her business offers a place for the children to play while their caregiver takes a break or plays too; an excellent alternative to staying cooped up in the house.

The reason for the addition, “I have small kids and this,” she waved her had around the arcade, “is okay for older kids, like 7 and 8-year-olds and up, but there isn’t anything for toddlers. When I first moved here I got involved with M.O.Ps and we met (still meet) at the church and we go to each other’s houses, because the area didn’t even have a play area, and when you have 15 kids at your house it’s difficult, you’re still cleaning up two days later.”

She said she thought by adding an additional play area specifically geared toward toddlers and pre-school aged children it would not just be beneficial to the children but to parents as well.

And in turn the idea paid off in spades.

“We quickly learned that area is a popular place to have birthday parties. The birthday parties have been what has kept us afloat, Jan. is tough! People are broke from Christmas so if I can have four or five birthday parties it helps offset people staying at home. The birthday parties have been a big success.”

Understanding how busy life is for just about everyone, she said she has kept her schedule for parties flexible and opens on Sundays just for birthday parties.

The food counter is not just an asset to the arcade and conducive to Frnk being able to host birthday parties, but is any child’s dream.

“We have a full menu, we’ve expanded our menu. That is something that happened just over the past four to six months. We opened up with just hot dogs and junk food, like candy bars. But the more customers we had the more requests we got for a wider variety of food.”

The menu now offers things from hot dogs to hamburgers and chicken nuggets, “anything fried, bad for you or will go straight to your hips we got it,” Frnk laughed.

The unpredictable nature of people in the winter brought about another great idea for Frnk to venture into with her business.

“We are open for lunch 11a.m. to 2 p.m. And one of the things that I came up with to help the area around here is free delivery to businesses. A lot of people, like from Steffens, are busy and can’t get away. So we run it over. That is basically who our lunch clientele is, the downtown businesses.”

Of course her busy time is summer time, when all the children are out of school and looking for things to do.

“We are usually open during the day, as opposed to not. Typically we are open until 6. One of the things I didn’t want to do, I know Frank (former owner) was open later, but I am old school and anything past 10 (for kids) there is trouble to be had.”

Being a mother of four young children herself she said she can see the parental side of having children home by a decent time in the evenings.

This parental aspect is a plus in another area too, being able to keep some sort of control within her business and become a mentor of sorts to all the children and teens who walk through the door.

“One of the girls who works for me is in an Entrepreneur class at the high school and I got to be a guest speaker. I walked in and recognized 99 percent of the kids that were in there,” she smiled. “If you’re a regular I am going to treat you like you’re one of my kids. They say yes ma’am and they know the rules. The kids are really great.

Frnk said she has found a great joy in her business and getting to know so many people around the Sidney area, despite the amount of time and efforts a business takes.

“Just seeing parents come in and kids having a good time and saying ‘thank you, thank you for this, thank you for giving us somewhere to go,’ that to me is the biggest reward. As long as I have enough money to pay my bills, I’m okay,” she smiled. “It’s having the kids have a place to relax and have somewhere to go that is important to me.”

In reference to the future of the arcade, Frnk said she understands the need to keep things fresh and to have new ideas so her business thrives.

“I keep a notepad next to my bed because I will have ideas just strike me at 2 a.m. and I will write it down. It’s how the birthday party packages came about.”