Former Hempfield grocery store set to become entertainment venue

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

814 Lanes & Games is set to open next year at the former Shop ’n Save building along Route 136, bringing up to 100 jobs to the area. The facility will feature bowling, ax throwing, sport simulators, laser tag, an escape room, a high ropes course, more than 50 arcade games, a restaurant and a bar.

“It’s just a great community,” said Bobby Hogue. “I actually live in Penn Township so we do all of our eating and family entertainment in Greensburg and there’s not a lot in the Hempfield area that would encompass the magnitude of what we’re doing.”

Once completed, the Hempfield location will be the second 814 Lanes & Games. Hogue and his brother opened a similar location in Johnstown in 2021. The name for that original site is a nod to Johnstown’s 814 area code.

Plans for the roughly 44,000-square-foot center show the former Hempfield grocery store transformed to feature 20 bowling lanes, six of which will be in a private VIP area. There will also be four ax-throwing lanes and sport simulators with golf, soccer, football and dodgeball games.

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

The escape room will be designed to simulate a sinking submarine. Guests will be tasked with solving puzzles to close portholes within 30 minutes.

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

Bites & Brews, a sports bar and grill, will feature pizza, burgers and sandwiches, as well as specialty cocktails. Guests will also be able to order at the bowling and ax-throwing lanes, at sport simulators and in event rooms.

“We’re excited to bring something the area has not had before,” said Chris Hogue. “Some of the laser tag and first class attractions that we’re bringing, we’re working with vendors that work all over the country and some of them work all over the world so it’s really going to be a nice package of attractions for that area.”

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

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

Bobby Hogue said the previous owner completed demolition work inside the structure, which included removing structural elements containing asbestos.

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

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

“We’ve heard a lot of early positive feedback from people that kind of know about it,” Chris Hogue said. “We’re excited for it.”