Hixson comics and gaming store Infinity Flux is quickly garnering support and funds from the community to open Chattanooga's first gaming- and comics-themed pub. Just four days after the store launched a Kickstarter campaign for the pub last month, pledges from supporters had already surpassed the original $9,000 goal, said Infinity Flux co-owner Meagan Frey. By press time they'd raised $14,450, and hoped to reach $18,000 by the 30-day campaign's end date of Thursday, Dec. 20.
Infinity Flux opened in 2014 in a single suite in a Hixson strip mall, and has since expanded into another suite next door. One side houses comics and the other is focused on games.
The Norse-themed pub, which they plan to call Hall of Heroes, will occupy a third suite another door down.
Frey said she and co-owners Jason Mink and John Porter will be contributing the remainder of the $50,000 they anticipate it will cost to open the pub, which includes cutting a doorway between the gaming and pub spaces, building the bar and purchasing kitchen equipment, tables, chairs and glassware.
Similar to comics- and gaming-themed pubs found in larger cities such as Atlanta and Orlando, Hall of Heroes will serve coffee, beer and food along with hosting movie, trivia and game nights, charity events and a comic-book reader club.
"I think it will be a good place for someone who wants something a little different from the average bar experience," Frey said.
Rather than a smoke filled venue for watching sports or playing pool, Hall of Heroes will be a place where people can do many of the same things they'd do at home - like reading comics or playing a board game - but in a more social setting where they can have food and drinks delivered to the table.
Frey said they hope to begin work on the pub soon after the conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign, and plan to open by April 2019.
Campaign supporters have several reward tiers from which to choose, starting with a social media shout-out and a free drink (nonalcoholic, per Kickstarter rules) for those who pledge at least $20, ranging up to the highest tier for pledges of $400 or more, for which supporters will get their portrait painted by a local artist to hang on the honorary Founders Wall, plus an invite to a "Super VIP Celebration" and all the benefits of the other tiers.
For more information or to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign, visit kickstarter.com/projects/hallofheroes/hall-of-heroes-a-pub-at-infinity-flux.
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com.