This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
GameWorks, a national chain of video arcades, will open a store at the Gateway Mall in downtown Salt Lake City later this year, the mall's management company announced.
The arcade will occupy a space on the north end of the mall where the Skybox sports bar and Lane Bryant clothing store used to be. It will occupy 25,000 square feet on the second floor of the mall and is expected to open in the fall of this year.
GameWorks is the latest addition to the mall. Two other stores that opened recently include clothing retailer Charming Charlie and the candy store Rocket Fizz.
GameWorks will feature video arcade games as well as food and drinks. It is unknown if the Salt Lake City store will sell liquor as it does at its other outlets. It is the first GameWorks to open in Utah.
The first GameWorks opened in Seattle in 1997 and was a partnership between Sega, Universal Studios and the movie studio, DreamWorks SKG, which was owned by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.
GameWorks later filed for bankruptcy and then was acquired by Sega. Sega then sold the company to an investment firm. The stores, of which there are five in the country, are now owned by Las Vegas-based GameWorks Entertainment LLC.
The addition of the stores is part of an effort by the Gateway's management company, Retail Properties of America, Inc., to improve the mall since the opening of its main competitor, the City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City. The upgrades to the Gateway include improvements to the Olympic Legacy Plaza & Fountain, new landscape and parking features and new soft-seating areas and benches.
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