While the Hamilton Jumbotron is the first thing people see when they enter the movie-theater-turned-sports bar, they’ll also see televisions everywhere. Todd and Alison Helton have decorated the walls not just with signed sports memorabilia, but also 40 televisions ― either 75-inch or 85-inch with individual programming ― throughout the 400-plus seat restaurant. They have two dedicated team rooms for those youth sports organizations celebrating big wins, club meetings or for fantasy football leagues needing a space to conduct their annual draft.
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
More signed memorabilia will be hung on the walls as more gets collected by the Heltons, but they also have a huge state-of-the-art kitchen, and they will have 48 taps with 24 options.
The restaurant also opens via a garage door out to a spacious 75-seat patio.
Though the second potential restaurant next door is unfinished, Todd Helton said once they see what Shooters, the bar and the event center is operational, “I think somebody’s going to knock on my door and say, ‘I want that space.’ We wanted to concentrate on getting Shooters up and running, and I think once it’s landscaped and finish off the patio area, I think somebody’s going to see it and will want it.”
Shooters will be open every day at 11 a.m. and they’ll close at 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
“We want to give people a place to go after the football or basketball games,” Todd Helton said. “We’ve struggled ourselves and something happens at school, and we get out at 9:30 p.m. and nobody wants to see you walk through the door at 10 p.m. We want to welcome people after those events.”
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
All the permits are expected to be in for Shooters Sports Grill this week, Todd Helton said, adding he anticipates opening the first week of June for the facility 877 NW Washington Blvd.
The Heltons had announced a couple of expected opening dates that were eventually pushed back, and Todd Helton said that’s because “it’s a big project. I think when people walk in, they’ll understand how big of an undertaking it was.”
“The construction company told us that if they were building this from the ground up, it would be six to nine months,” Alison Helton said. “But when you’re redeveloping a movie theater, it’s a big change. Everybody’s been here seven days a week.”
The Hamilton Shooters is the first franchise of the restaurant and is twice the size of the others. The three other locations are in Liberty Twp., Loveland and Maineville.
Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dan Bates said, “Even though it’s a known name, being Shooters, they’ve made it one of a kind.”
“In the seven-and-a-half years I’ve been here, I’ve heard people say we need a sports bar. Now they’re going to have two terrific ones to choose from,” he said about Shooters and the recently opened The 513 on Main Street in the city’s urban core.
“This is Shooters on steroids. I think people will be amazed and pleasantly surprised at not only the size of it, the amenities it has to offer,” Bates said. “The level at which they did the finishes in this place. It’s a sports bar on a whole different level. People are going to feel very comfortable there, watching the games, taking the family.”
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
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