Big Al’s, a sports bar and entertainment center owned and operated by Vancouver-based Kirkwood & Kirkwood, has opened its first location in California.
The new facility, opened last month in Ontario, California (4120 E. 4th St., Suite A), is the company’s fourth entertainment center. Other locations are in Vancouver, WA; Beaverton, OR; and Meridian, ID.
At approximately 46,000 square feet (inside a former Best Buy store), the Ontario location is significantly smaller than the company’s other facilities.
Daniel Kirkwood, president & CEO of Kirkwood & Kirkwood, said the scaled-down version can more easily scale into existing centers without losing the amenities or look and feel of the Big Al’s brand.
“Our vision of growth can be more readily realized with a smaller model.” said Kirkwood in a press release. “More important to developers and landlords, we took a plain, vanilla, former Best Buy box, and turned it into something spectacular.”
Big Al’s Ontario boasts a contemporary Sports Bar & Grill with a 55’ HD laser Projection Screen, 20 full-service, state-of-the-art bowling lanes, a center bar with a custom one-ton beer chase serving 36 beers on draft, a video & redemption game arcade and a 21-and-older “BoardRoom” featuring billiards, ping pong, table & floor shuffleboards, and classic darts & arcade games.
Randall Lewis, principal of the Lewis Group of Companies, a developer of shopping centers and housing in the region, said Big Al’s will be a “wonderful addition” to the marketplace.
“It’s a perfect combination of recreation, entertainment and dining,” said Lewis. “It will appeal to many of the target markets that are so desirable today – millennials, young professionals and Gen-Xers” in addition to “attracting new employers to the area.”
