GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Pacman, Mario and Luigi and air hockey. A blast from the past that's now a part of downtown Greensboro's future.
Boxcar Bar + Arcade opened Thursday on E. Lewis Street, and it's already creating more foot traffic in downtown Greensboro's South End.
Boxcar Bar + Arcade Opens In Greensboro
"I think with the addition of all the new bars and places down on our side kind of gets more people to walk down here," explains Tyler Jeffries, who's been working at Gibb's since it opened more than two years ago.
He remembers when this spot wasn't always thriving. The crime around what was then Lotus Lounge led to its closure.
So far Dance Dance Revolution seems to be the go-to game. This guy has one of the high scores! @WFMY pic.twitter.com/xeEE2fPfBI
— Bailey Pennington (@Bailey_Marie93) January 27, 2017
But with new businesses invested in building a community...
"I think it added a sense of maybe more security to the area and people are more comfortable coming down."
Boxcar Bar + Arcade is right across from Gibbs and it's a concept that's totally new to the Triad - a bar with dozens of arcade games.
That's not all that's new. There's HQ, a place for entrepreneurs to work; the Greensboro Distilling Co.; and The Bearded Goat just down the road.
"We've done a lot of art," explains Kori Sergent, bartender and manager at The Bearded Goat. "That's kind of been our main focus as far as community give back."
That giving back, a big part of being on the "Lew crew" - as the folks who work on Lewis Street call themselves.
They're taking a place in Greensboro that was once game over and hitting restart.
"It's going to do nothing but help people just become aware of this side of downtown," Jeffries explains. "The more people on Lew crew, the better for me."
Boxcar Bar and Arcade started in Raleigh. This Greensboro location officially opened Thursday, January 26th.