Inside of Smash Social Club in Raleigh. Photo: Forrest Mason
Smash Social Club, a new restaurant and entertainment spot in Raleigh's Glenwood South neighborhood, opens on Thursday.
Why it matters: The new space, featuring games like ping-pong, darts and shuffle board, is a big bet by the local restaurant group LM Restaurants, which closed an existing Carolina Ale House to make way for Smash at the epicenter of Raleigh's most popular nightlife area.
LM, founded in 1978, has 36 restaurants across the Southeast and is locally known for its Carolina Ale House chain and restaurants like Taverna Agora and Vidrio in Raleigh and Bluewater Waterfront Grill in Wrightsville Beach.
State of play: Amber Moshakos, president of LM Restaurants, said the company had been thinking about transitioning the Carolina Ale House in Glenwood South into an entertainment concept coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moshakos said there's been a clear rise in demand for more "eatertainment" or game-centric spaces to gather in recent years. All of Smash's games are tech-infused.
She said that if the company can prove Smash as a success in Raleigh, it could try to replicate it in other markets. "We are seeing if this has legs," she told Axios.
