Game on: Sol's Arcade + Taproom coming to Downtown Fayetteville
By Stephanie Meador, posted Aug 31, 2023 on BizFayetteville.com
Owner Cameron Carlotti (right) his partner Morghan (left) and the business’ namesake Sol, Carlotti’s first pitbull rescue
Downtown Fayetteville will soon be home to a new mecca for social gatherings. Sol’s Arcade + Taproom is coming to 421 Maiden Lane. The 6100 square foot space located right by Segra Stadium will feature a 21-tap self-pour draft system, modern and retro arcade games, a seven TV sports lounge and
more.
Owner Cameron Carlotti shared that he hopes the place will be a “social gathering space for everyone.”
The business is named in honor of Sol, Carlotti’s first pitbull rescue. He and his partner Morghan got her about two years ago and Carlotti shared that he plans to have a local artist paint a mural of Sol on the side of the building. His vision for this mural is to have Sol depicted holding a drink, wagging her tail while sitting on a barstool and playing an arcade game.
Carlotti previously owned a gym in California but decided he wanted to pursue something different and went into Special Operations. However, in April of last year Carlotti was in a terrible Humvee rollover crash on Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty). After being medically evacuated to the hospital he had quite the recovery to make.
All of this led to Carlotti becoming a non-commissioned officer. He’s now in the final stage of medical retirement. As he healed from the physical and emotional trauma of the accident, Carlotti began to consider what he might do next.
Carlotti initially thought he’d own another gym but came to find out that that was a flooded market in Fayetteville. Then he decided to look into what the community needed.
“So I went out, I looked around the community and I said, we have 240,000 people and very few entertainment options. For me, coming from California, I know [arcade bars] very well. They’re flooding the market down there. They’re very popular, very profitable facilities. So I was like, alright, let’s start looking into this,” remarked Carlotti.
Carlotti came to find that this was a “golden opportunity” and immediately began taking steps towards his new goal of opening an arcade bar in Fayetteville. This was about 10 months ago, and Carlotti shared that he is hopeful Sol’s Arcade + Taproom will open in the beginning of 2024.
The venue will feature arcade games, a self-pour tap system, a sports lounge, rotating food trucks out front, cornhole, pool and more. The space will be open to everyone from open until 8 p.m., then after 8 p.m. until closing time, the space will be adults-only.
One particularly unique experience that Sol’s will offer guests is LaserShot Simulators. These advanced shooting simulators allow players to fight pirates or robots, hunt animals or walk through shoot houses, getting live-time feedback on score, accuracy and reaction time. Booths accommodate up to four members at a time in 30+ minute scheduled durations.
Carlotti was also eager to share about the venue’s ticket redemption counter. While many businesses that award tickets for games cater primarily to children, Carlotti shared that Sol’s will have a pretty even split between things for children and things for adults.
“I wanted to build a nice social gathering venue for the community, because every time somebody wants to go do something, it’s an hour and a half to Raleigh, it's 45 minutes to Southern Pines...we don’t have a lot of good spots just to hang out. So we’re going to do [it], we’re going to be dog friendly, we’re going to be family friendly...I just wanted to build a place for everyone,” stated Carlotti.
Carlotti shared that the intention is to break ground towards the end of September with hopes of opening in February of 2024. There will be indoor and outdoor seating and the business is located within Fayetteville’s newly established social district as well.
The new space will create 12 to 15 new jobs and Carlotti shared that he hopes to hire a lot of local college students.
Giving back to the community is something else that is very important to Carlotti.
“I’m going to donate 10 percent of our yearly profits between Veterans suicide awareness, animal shelters and first responders. They’re just some big things that I really care about as a business owner,” remarked Carlotti.
______________
Additional information and updates about Sol’s can be found on the companies website: www.solsarcade-taproom.com.
Copyright © 2024
Enhanced Media Management Inc. dba
Greater Fayetteville Business Journal
This story may be displayed, reformatted and printed for your personal, noncommercial use only and in
accordance with our Terms of Service located at https://bizfayetteville.com/useragreement.