LOCKPORT — Niagara residents can start gearing up for shuffleboard season as the city’s new Shuffle City Brewing Company prepares to open in late January.
Matt Martin, owner of the former Kendzie’s at 13 W. Main St. said all parts of the building renovation are nearing completion.
“We’re finally getting close to being able to announce an actual opening date,” he said.
The brew pub will feature five regulation indoor shuffleboard courts and two indoor bocce courts in the space where the bowling alleys existed in the original Kendzie’s. Martin said there wasn’t any salvageable wood from the bowling alleys, but the bar was saved.
Martin said the pub will run shuffleboard leagues for four-person teams Monday through Thursday during the fall and winter, with open play Friday through Sunday. He said the regulation shuffleboard courts are a surprising 52 feet long by 6 feet wide.
“The building is a lot bigger than people think it is,” he said. “It’s definitely a different spin on a brewery.
Shuffleboard players use 6-foot cues to slide pucks across the court into scoring zones, Martin said. Zones have differing point values.
“It’s a game anyone can play, from a young kid to someone in their 70s and 80s,” he said. “You don’t have to have a certain talent or skill to play it and have fun. The biggest thing, too, is that it’s a game that can be played in the wintertime. What we’re really trying to promote with ours is a family-type atmosphere, where, as opposed to darts, it’s an older age game.
Martin said when the establishment opens, there will be instructional sessions on how to play shuffleboard.
Other segments of the business are moving along faster, Martin said.
“We did hire our executive chef and she is working on the menu,” Martin said. “Everything is hooked up brewery-wise.”
Brewer Colin Herzog of the Flying Bison Brewing Company in Buffalo was hired full-time in the fall when a six-barrel brewing system was installed.
“A lot of people are going to come here because of Colin,” Martin said. “Because not only is he creating beer, but he’s creating non-alcoholic brews and some sodas.”
Martin said the business has a capacity to brew 5,000 barrels a year and the bar will offer 17 beers on tap. The brewery will produce beers for Willowbrook Golf Course, and Martin said it will eventually launch bottled beers for distribution. Martin said he expects the brew pub to be open for lunch, dinner, and bar food until about 10 p.m., with seating for nearly 250.
The building also features four apartments on the upper floor.
The two two-bedroom apartments are 1,400 square feet each, and there are two single-bedroom units.