As new and innovative experiential retail concepts pop up across North Texas, Subhi Gharbieh—the co-founder of virtual reality immersive sporting venue Active Arena—knew that if he wanted his concept to succeed, it would have to fill a void in the market. After all, the region has seen a plethora of new entertainment venues like PopStroke, Puttery, Sixes Cricket, GoodSurf, and more, debut over the last 18 months.
Set to open later this month near Stonebriar Mall, is DFW’s latest new player: Active Arena. The AI and VR-powered concept features 15 unique digital and mechanical attractions packed into 6,000 square feet that can host 50 guests at a time. The concept features an interactive skiing simulator that is used by the U.S. Olympic Ski Team, a virtual reality paragliding simulator, and a RoboGoalie—all of which are the first of their kind in the U.S.
Despite no food and beverage offerings, Active Arena anticipates it will attract anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 guests each month.
“The team came together and realized that sports in DFW, although there are plenty of options, we wanted to make sports accessible for all,” Gharbieh said. “A lot of people don’t have the luxury of being able to go on a ski trip or paragliding. It’s something that we wanted to make the joy or the thrill of it accessible to people without them having to necessarily break the bank to be able to do so.”
The brand aims to create a fun and unique experiences without having to pay exuberant prices, like many other experiential concepts in the region, Gharbieh said. He also desires his venue to be rid of highly competitive environments.
Active Arena will also provide mainstream attractions such as VR batting cages, a basketball shooting game that can track your shot and provide real-time feedback on just how close (or how far off) it was, amongst other interactive options. The tech infused in the vast majority of the attractions, including the RoboGoalie and the ski and paragliding simulators, was sourced from outside the U.S.
Instead of adding in the typical food and beverage options that most concepts rely heavily on, Gharbieh and his team decided against it, opting to offer sports drinks and healthy snacks to stay aligned with the vision of promoting a healthy and active experience. Despite the lack of a prototypical food and cocktail menu, which can be a major boost to sales, Gharbieh did not raise admission prices to make up for potential lost revenue.
“There’s always that revenue that’s trying to be achieved through means other than the experience itself,” Gharbieh said. “We didn’t want to do that. We didn’t want to dabble into the food and beverage industry. And I think from a social responsibility perspective, we didn’t want to incorporate alcohol at all. We wanted to avoid any of that outside distraction that takes away from organic, fun, family, friendly sports experience. We’re ready to prove that you can have a venue that is extremely fun, really entertaining, that people can have a blast in without having to include the dining or alcoholic beverage options.
“We absolutely did not pad our ticket prices to offset the lack of food and beverage. We truly believe that this business can achieve the profitability and the revenue numbers that we intend on it doing with the numbers that we’ve planned without factoring in upselling anything.”
While there are potential plans for expansion down the road for Active Arena, not only in DFW, but nationwide, Gharbieh is using the Frisco location as a pilot to work through any potential issue and streamline the consumer experience. Eventually though, Gharbieh has plans for future venues to boast a larger footprint.
Active Arena will be open Monday-Thursday from 12 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Guests can reserve a time slot online and tickets for $29 that includes a preloaded gaming card to access the multiple experiences.
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