The Grid Arcade
New Arcade Bar Opens in West Pensacola
by Nicole Willis
There is a new business in town, and it combines two beloved activities—playing nostalgic arcade games and drinking tasty beer. The Grid Arcade Bar offers a variety of vintage arcade games, video games and a bar that offers more than 30 different varieties of craft beers and other beverages. Daniel Demeter is the brain behind this creative new business venture. Demeter has been restoring and collecting old games for several years and recently decided to share the joy and nostalgia that these games provide with the Pensacola community.
Pensacola Automatic Amusement that restored old games and other types of machines. Demeter said that the primary reason for selecting this location for the arcade was because there were already many old games inside of the building that were left behind by the old owners.
“The primary focus is to bring people back to their younger age where they played arcade games,” Demeter explained. “Then they get to pass that along to their kids, friends, or whoever it is to experience what was early technology.”
Demeter had been restoring vintage and antique games for several years and has since amassed quite a collection; so, he purchased the building, finished restoring the existing games in the building and brought in some games from his personal collection as well. It took Demeter about eight months to prepare the building and restore enough games to officially open for business.
The Grid opened its doors this past month at 2414 North Pace Boulevard in Pensacola, which previously served as home to a company called 12 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM
Prior to opening The Grid, Demeter worked as a BMW automotive technician and for his father’s vending machine company, where he also repaired machines.
Owner of The Grid Arcade Bar, Daniel Demeter & Gab Eden
