Shark City Billiards & Sports Bar
Position:
- Part Owner
Years:
- 1993
- Sold 2004
Location:
- Glendale Heights, Illinois
Partners:
- Betty Hruska
- Jeff & Karen Hruska
Factoids:
- 17,500 Sq. Feet
- 30 Pool Tables
- 45 TVs
- Outdoor Courtyard
- Tons of Fun!
While at Applied Systems it became increasingly obvious to me that my entrepreneurial itch was not going to be satisfied remaining there forever. At the same time my brother Jeff had been hanging from scaffolding cleaning and restoring buildings in his AmeriClean Power Washing business. After nearly falling off a 15 story building, he was getting quite concerned he couldn’t do that forever as well, so we started to hatch a plan to start a business together.
During this time he and I somehow stumbled into a large billiard hall and sports bar in Naperville, IL called Pockets. This place was HUGE. We loved it. We started counting customers, doing a spreadsheet, and eventually concluded we wanted to open a similar place.
This was really insane. Neither of us had any knowledge of this business, but we plowed ahead anyway. My wife Betty sharpened her design skills and sketched out a fabulous design. My sister Susan consulted on the food & beverage service, and so between us all we designed from scratch a 17,500 square foot monster on the west side of Chicago called Shark City Billiards & Sports Bar. It had 30 pool tables, 45 televisions, and room for lots of people. Today it might be considered a cross between Dave & Busters and Buffalo Wild Wings.
From the day it opened in 1993 it was a huge success. We were open through the Chicago Bulls repeat-of-the-three-peat. With over 1000 customers in the pace, it was actually better than being at the game! I went up there weekly for our pool league, and often on Sundays for pro football where you could watch all the games at the same time.
For anybody with an hour to kill, here’s a video showing the whole chronology of the buildout of Shark City from first hammer blow to the incredible Bulls playoff games our first year open.
Honestly, this place was one of a kind. I got such a buzz (literally) every time I was there. I cried the day I drove home after we had sold it.