What’s Dave & Buster’s future at Modesto’s Vintage Faire Mall? Coronavirus halts work
Back in early January — when the world was still normal and we could shake each other’s hands — I wrote a preview about all the new and exciting businesses expected to open in Modesto and the surrounding area in 2020.
Then the novel coronavirus happened and most of those projects were put on hold. One of the highest profile of those were the new Dave & Buster’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods taking over the former Sears anchor space at Vintage Faire Mall.
Dave & Buster’s in particular was exciting because it would be the first in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and help fill a prominent vacant spot at the Modesto mall. But as the COVID-19 outbreak shutters businesses large and small across the country, what once looked like a sure thing is now up in the air.
With the release of its fourth quarter report and 2019 results last week, the company addressed its response to the coronavirus crisis.
On March 20, Dave & Buster’s temporarily closed all 137 of its locations across the United States and Puerto Rico. The company has also furloughed its more than 15,000 hourly store employees. Cuts have also been made to its store management, corporate staff and senior leadership.
The company also announced it has halted all new store construction — which includes the Modesto site. Before coronavirus disrupted everyone’s daily life, work had begun on the two-story former Sears space at Vintage Faire Mall. Dave & Buster’s was slated to take over the top floor, with Dick’s Sporting Goods moving from its standalone store nearby to the first-floor of the anchor space.
Crews had already torn down the old Sears auto shop, and major interior work was visible from the street. But now, the big machines are gone and the site is silent.
Dave & Buster’s coronavirus outlook
The company said it has $100 million cash on hand as of March 31, which would allow them to continue operating for about 15 weeks — or until about mid-July. The report also said they’re in discussion with their landlords and vendors to help cut costs.
Dave & Buster’s did not respond to requests for comment by The Bee about its future plans for the Modesto mall site. The Vintage Faire Mall, which is owned by Southern California-based real estate investment firm Macerich, also did not return requests for comment.
Dick’s Sporting Goods, which has shut all of its stores nationally but remains open for online and curbside pickup only, also did not return requests for comment.
So that’s a hat-trick of radio silence from major corporations about their future projects in Modesto. I get it, everything is uncertain these days. But not knowing is also frustrating and leaves Modesto’s and the valley’s economic outlook hazy at best.
Already, industry insiders are painting a pretty stark picture of Dave & Buster’s future. Restaurant Business Magazine, one of the leading food-service industry journals, said the company was in a “life-or-death moment.”
If Vintage Faire were to lose the Dave & Buster’s, it would leave two major anchor spaces with vacancies. At the end of last year the three-story Forever 21 at the mall shuttered as the company went through bankruptcy. And questions now linger over if and when HomeGoods, which was going to fill the Dick’s Sporting Goods space when it relocated, would open its first Stanislaus County site as well.
Whether Dave & Buster’s is given new life after this crisis passes, and continues to grow and add our city to its ranks, is unknown at this point. But Modesto and the mall should prepare for the worst, while hoping for the best.
