Dan Wyatt is using his background in the entertainment industry to amp up the fun at his Uptown Village specialty soda shop.
He took ownership of Moxie's on Main Jan. 1, taking over for former owner Peter Hatcher. Wyatt is in the process of changing the name to Pop Culture.
He is using that as an umbrella for a host of changes to the space and its offerings – creating his dream of a "geek hangout." Wyatt was a regular at Moxie's and had a vision for the space even before thought of buying it, he said.
So far, he's created a living room of sorts that will soon boast gaming consoles, added booths with tables painted as an homage to classic video games The Legend of Zelda and Pac-Man, a video projection screen and performance stage.
He enlisted the help of Chris McKinney, a Vancouver artist, musician and contractor, to do the building.
"I told him to build a stage he'd want to play on," Wyatt said.
The result is a colorful performance space with sides covered in bottle caps, which doubles as a children's play area during the day.
Vancouver has more bands than stages, and nearly every weekend is booked, Wyatt said. The shop also hosts stand-up comics, movie nights (Tuesday is Documentary Night), open mic nights and dances.
On the product side, Wyatt is working to build the specialty soda supply back up after it dwindled for a while, and has improved sandwiches and added menu items.
So far, business has grown every month since Wyatt bought the business – sales were up 30 percent in May from April. He hasn't yet met the sales numbers he wants and needs, but expects summer to be strong based on past performance.
Wyatt said he hopes building the entertainment side of the business will help to keep revenue consistent throughout the year.
Ultimately, Wyatt said he expects to have multiple Pop Culture locations (although he recognizes that he'll have to expand out of Vancouver to do so) and examine the potential of soda distribution.
Pop Culture is located at 1912 Main St. in Vancouver. Owner Dan Wyatt can be reached at 360-713-8465.
