Indoor theme park to take over White Oaks space vacated by Bergner's
The parent company of a chain of entertainment centers is making plans to open one of their "indoor theme parks" inside the vacated space of a Bergner's at White Oaks Mall.
Malibu Jack's, run by Jester FEC, is planning to open a location in White Oaks sometime this summer, with a target date of July 1. The two-story, 110,000 square-foot facility will include go-karts, a bowling alley, a mini-golf course, laser tag, motion simulators, virtual reality, a drop tower, arcade games and food and beverage space.
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The entertainment space will be a permanent tenant in the space formerly held by Bergner's, which closed up shop at the mall in 2018. For the past five years, the Green Family Stores chain of car dealerships held large sales at various times of year in the two-story space. Bergner's had been an original anchor tenant of the mall when it opened in 1977, when it still went by Myers Brothers before its acquisition by Bergner's the following year.
Officials with Malibu Jack's said that Springfield and White Oaks Mall appealed to them because the company has a pre-existing relationship with Simon Property Group, the mall's owners. Their newest store in Lafayette, Indiana was located in Tippecanoe Mall, owned by Simon.
"Anywhere that Simon owns a mall, we're taking a peek at big-box stores that might be empty," said Tyler Hatton, a spokesperson for Malibu Jack's and Jester. "We don't like to build a building from scratch, we like to take a building that may be vacant for whatever reason and repurpose it to draw more attraction to the mall (and) bring people from out of town, not just to Malibu Jack's, but to the stores around the mall and in that area."
Malibu Jack's currently has three Kentucky locations – where Jester is based – and the Lafayette location to go along with the impending Springfield opening. The company also has plans to open a location in Bettendorf, Iowa in the Quad Cities. Those stores draw people from 2-4 hours away, with the Lafayette market being considered a similar one to Springfield by the company.
"It's doing well in Lafayette and we see a big draw," Hatton said. "There's over 1,300 reviews on Google (at) 4.8 stars. We try to treat our customers right and hope that they'll leave good reviews and keep supporting us."
While Springfield has mini-golf courses and bowling alleys, Hatton says that the size and scope of Malibu Jack's is something that the city hasn't seen. He does make sure to note that they don't want to step on the toes of others who run family entertainment-type setups across the city.
"We don't like to kick people out of the community, we want to grow the communities and try to bring more customers into the community," Hatton said.
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At the moment, Hatton said everything is going according to plan, with some hiccups coming with the sprinkler system inside the vacant store. Demolition work has been completed on the site with interior work slated to begin next week, pending the city of Springfield issuing them the proper permits.
"If we're pushed back, it could be August," Hatton said. "If something crazy was to happen, the latest (it could open) would be September, but we do expect to open this summer. We're crossing our fingers that nothing gets delayed."
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Bergner's space at White Oaks to be filled by indoor theme park
