Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer McBride.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We’re Bug and Jennifer McBride, a husband and wife team who’ have been together for over 25 years. We grew up in the Atlanta area, but spent nearly 15 years living in the Chicagoland area before moving to Woodstock in 2015, when our 3 daughters were between 8 and 18 years old.
Our story began in the service industry, working at small mom & pop restaurants where we loved the close relationships with staff and regular customers. Early on, we considered maybe one day opening our own business, but the demands of family life caused us to set those plans aside and pursue other careers. Jennifer’s background is in corporate accounting, and Bug worked in tech support and quality assurance.
We chose to make Woodstock home because of its vibrant community and thriving downtown life. We loved spending time downtown, but were were disappointed in the entertainment options that families could enjoy together. We missed the local board game shop and arcade that were family favorites in Chicago. That inspired us to create a space here in Woodstock.
We jumped in with a mantra to just keep working on the idea until someone told us to stop. Instead, we found encouragement at every step. We worked with the Small Business Development Center at KSU in the early stages, purchased our first arcade machine in 2017, and spent three years hunting down and restoring games from auctions, basements, church rec rooms, old warehouses, etc.
During this time, we moved our furniture into storage and filled the house wall-to-wall with arcade cabinets. The garage was converted into a restoration workshop, and Bug taught himself how to repair the machines. Finding the perfect space for the arcade took time, and just as we signed a lease, the world shut down in 2020. We hit pause during COVID, regrouped, and finally opened our doors in June 2021.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, the hardest part was just the sustained persistence required to bring the project to fruition. Creating something from nothing required a marathon of steps, each with its own obstacles and challenges and with constraints on time and money. We were in constant cycles of learning, building, failing, and revising as we navigated writing business plans, securing funding, designing the space, finding vendors, selecting inventory, hiring staff, getting permitting, etc.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a free play arcade with over 50 retro arcade and pinball machines, gaming consoles from NES Classic to PS5 and Switch2, and 200+ board games! We offer a full bar with a wide range of craft beers, specialty cocktails, and non-alcoholic options. The Blue Ghost Arcade is known for being a fun and welcoming place for everyone to gather and connect over games. We set ourself apart from other arcades by offering an $18 all day free-play pass, allowing our guests to play for as long as they want, no tokens needed! Frequent visitors can purchase a $70 monthly pass to get unlimited entry for an entire month. There is always something going down at the Ghost, whether that be Karaoke, Dungeons and Dragons, Puzzle Club, and more! We also offer Birthday Party Packages, Group pricing and private event rentals. Creating community has been one of our core values since the beginning and seeing it flourish here has been very rewarding.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
We’ve had to learn that we cannot be everything to everyone. Each person has a their own idea of what they desire from an arcade entertainment space, and unfortunately we can’t always meet that expectation. We’ve found we get the best feedback when we stick to a few core values – we will be open to all ages at all times; we will offer all-day play for one affordable price; we will treat people the way we want to be treated – while being flexible to respond to customer wishes
Pricing:
- $18 All-day admission pass
- $70 Monthly pass
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theblueghostarcade.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueghostarcade/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBlueGhostArcade
- Other: https://www.meetup.com/the-blue-ghost-arcade-meetup-group/
Image Credits
Katelyn Motes
