I'm fairly certain this is a fantasy most gamers have had. I know I have it alllllll the freaking time.
I'm well outside of the target demographic for most of these places. I'm not a drinker and (outside of the apocalypse) my house is my circle of friends' gaming haven. I've been to several game-bars over the years, but the only ones I really spent any time at were when I was in Austria with work, and was 5000 miles away from any of my games.
While I was in college though, and assuming it fit into my limited budget, I would have been there all the time. I spent most of my formative college years trying to make places that were decidedly not clubhouses full of gamers, clubhouses full of gamers. Having an actual place that was attempting to be what I tried and failed to turn every game store, coffee shop, university meeting area, and friend's living room into would have been amazing.
The pandemic unfortunately killed off the one gamer bar that had actually managed to pull it off here in Pittsburgh (/me pours one out for Mana Boardgame Tavern). I had been impressed the two or three times we managed to get together there to scope things out, but I'd still rather play at home, or any one of the other random gaming groups I (used to) meet with pre-pandemic. Their game selection was maybe a little above average, and they did a nice job dressing the place up; but sticky tables, loud bar noises, and dim moody lighting made me wish that we were in my game room instead. It's weird, cause I love conventions and don't mind open tables for board game or rpg playing in that setting, but the idea of running a campaign in an open, active space like a bar ain't for me. Heck it even bothered me playing a board game next to a group trying to play D&D because I felt like I was shouting rules out to the table during all of the DM's big dramatic reveals.
I think that having a game store/hangout space that meshes store and play space together well is rare. It always seems like the stores that are great have tables mashed up and in the way of everything, and the places that have good play areas are kind of barren, antiseptic warehouses with no character. More than anything though, I don't know how the places that do work manage to stay in the black. It just doesn't seem like it's a business model that has a lot going for it. I know that there are places that do it, I just don't understand how.
There's a game store here called Legions that is a little too far for me to hit regularly, but it always impressed me. It's the one game store in town here where I'm not close friends with any of the owners or employees, but there was an old gaming group that I used to play with infrequently who used that store as a base for their get togethers. The selling stuff part of the store isn't all that big, but the physical location is IMMENSE. I don't know what the place used to be before it was a game store, but it has always felt to me like it must have been either a music venue or maybe an old rollerskating rink. The place just has so much freaking character. The entrance on the ground floor leads to a staircase, a ramp, and an elevator that all kind of helix around each other and dump you down into the basement. There are a handful of private rooms that I've never ventured into but that several RPG groups used. The entire rest of the building though is just tiers of giant wargaming tables stacked end to end on three or four different asymmetric raised stages. Rows and rows of 6x8 wargaming/gaming tables with giant boxes of green foam terrain packed underneath them. I think what I always liked the most about it (aside from the fact that it had all those neato overlapping levels and stages) was the fact that the store and the play space, even though they were completely open to each other, were distinct and separate entities. I think that is what bothers me about most of the game taverns I've seen. I'm all for a clubhouse that has a bar, and that has food, and has gaming, but I want them to not all be stuffed into the same room.
