Former Hempfield grocery store to be entertainment venue

Brothers Bobby and Chris Hogue are designing a new entertainment venue at the former Hempfield grocery store, but they already know there’s nothing like it in the area.

814 Lanes & Games will open next year in the former Shop ‘n Save building along Route 136, bringing as many as 100 jobs to the area. The facility will feature bowling, axe throwing, sports simulators, laser tags, escape rooms, high ropes courses, more than 50 arcade games, restaurants and bars.

“It’s just a great community,” said Bobby Hogue. “I actually live in Penn Township, so we do all the eating and family fun in Greensburg, and the Hempfield area doesn’t have much of the scale to encompass what we’re doing.”

When complete, Hempfield will be the second 814 Lanes & Games.Hogg and his brother opened a family Similar locations in Johnstown in 2021. The name of the original site is a tribute to Johnstown’s 814 area code.

Plans for the roughly 44,000-square-foot center show the conversion of the former Hempfield grocery store to feature 20 bowling lanes, six of which will be in private VIP areas. There will also be four axe throwing lanes and sports simulators including golf, football, rugby and dodgeball games.

A 3,000-square-foot laser tag arena will be designed by Creative Works in Indiana. Equipment will be purchased from LaserBlast in Michigan.

The escape room will be designed to simulate a sinking submarine. Guests will be asked to solve the puzzle to close the porthole in 30 minutes.

Arcade games will include air hockey, Skee-Ball and basketball hoop, as well as updated video games and virtual reality machines.

Sports bar and grill Bites & Brews will offer pizzas, burgers and sandwiches as well as specialty cocktails. Guests can also order at the bowling and throwing lanes, sports simulators and activity rooms.

“We’re excited to bring something the region hasn’t had before,” said Chris Hogue. “Some of the laser tags and top-notch attractions that we’re bringing in, we’re working with suppliers that work all over the country, some of them work all over the world, so this would really be a good area for a package of attractions.”

In August, the former Shop ‘n Save building sold to Greensburg Entertainment Realty for $1.7 million, Westmoreland County property records show.

814 Lanes & Games will be first business since grocery store to move into building closed in 2014The Westmoreland County Association for the Blind tried to buy the building in 2016, but the deal fell through after asbestos was found under the floor tiles.

Bobby Hogue said the previous owner completed the demolition of the interior of the structure, which included the removal of structural elements that contained asbestos.

With the addition of a new roof, the structure is ready for construction.

814 Lanes & Games in Hempfield is expected to open in the second half of 2023.

“We’ve heard a lot of early positive feedback from people who know about it,” Chris Hogg said. “We’re excited about this.”