Drinking and playing arcade games wouldn’t be the same anymore in downtown Melbourne.
Quarters Brewery, a local bar in downtown Melbourne, announced on their Facebook page on Oct. 15 that profits were not enough to pay their landlord to keep the business running.
On their post titled “A Letter from the Owners…”, the company stated that they have found themselves at a crossroads.
“The ‘for lease’ sign is up, but we’re not done fighting yet,” mentions the post.
Quarters Brewery was created by best friends Tyler Griffiths and Brock Turner as a hobby project from homebrewing and creating game cabinets for people to enjoy.
The brewery opened on June 29, 2018 in downtown Melbourne, and attracts many adults to play arcade games while playing the arcade games such as Pac-Man and Galaga.
Brock, an alumni of Florida Tech and co-owner of the brewery, explained the reasoning for the announcement.
“Quarters has been having some issues staying afloat due to staggering prices of downtown rent,” Brock said. “Even though downtown has high foot traffic, Quarters’ customer base is more geared towards craft beer fans, video game enthusiasts, and the like.”
The Facebook post came as a shock to many of their customers, with supportive comments from customers and hundreds of shares throughout the site.
The brewery is a popular hotspot for the local community, including Florida Tech students and alumni.
“I’m upset that it’s [potentially] closing down,” said Faisal Ahmed, a graduate in business administration. “Every time I’m with my friends, we play the hockey game that they have as well as Pac-Man. I thought they were doing pretty well.”
The news was passed around through word of mouth for those that didn’t see the post on Facebook, such as Ahmed.
“I also heard the news through my friend Kevin,” said Siomara Nieves, a graduate in computer science. “I liked the place and its atmosphere was very cool and amazing. When I just wanna hang out and not stress about anything, I would go to Quarters and play.”
Quarters is currently a brewery that exclusively sells beer and a couple of wines.
Even if the majority of downtown establishments are full liquor bars, Brock has stated that they refuse in becoming one.
“We have expanded our offerings to include both hand crafted hard seltzers and more recently the introduction of a food menu as of September,” said Brock. “We also have events six times a week, such as trivia and beer bingo.”
The company also stated that they do not intend on closing down and will continue their regular business to their best of their abilities.
“We appreciate all the support that we’re getting from folks as we try to make this work,” said Brock. “We’re optimistic about what the future holds for Quarters and as things progress, we hope to have positive news to share.”
The company posted an update on their Facebook page on Nov. 5 mentioning their audience’s support in their journey of staying open.
“We are working day and night on a plan that will allow us to not just stabilize Quarters,” but to make it bigger and better than before,” the company stated.
New plans in their campaign of saving the company, #SaveQuarters, include distributing to local vendors, like The Broken Barrel Tavern.
Future updates and current events of Quarters Brewery can be found on their Facebook page, Quarters Brewery and Arcade.