State's first Dave & Buster's set to open in the Huntington Mall on Monday

BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. (WCHS) — There are about 150 Dave & Buster's in existence, but there has never been one in West Virginia, until now.

On Monday at 11 a.m., the Dave & Buster's inside the Huntington Mall will officially open its doors to its first guests.

“Expect to have a good time," general manager David Willey said. "Perfect place for kids to come in and play video games. We do a lot of birthday parties. We’ve got phenomenal food. All ages are able to come in to play games, watch sports and hang out with friends.”

The 25,000 square-foot space features 150 arcade and interactive games coupled with a restaurant and bar area with large televisions focused on sports and entertainment.

Willey said so far, they have hired about 170 employees who have been training for the past week.

“This mall here is a very, very busy mall tracking about 80,000 people every weekend. Dave & Buster's has been looking at this for quite some time," Willey said. "We were actually looking at this site pre-COVID. Then when COVID came along it put a hold on things and we’re excited to get back into the market.”

Barboursville Mayor Chris Tatum said this has been seven years in the making, and that he is excited to welcome another anchor tenant to the mall and a destination location for Barboursville.

"I think retailers and restauranteurs understand that we get the traffic they need to be successful here," Tatum said. "We’ve become a hub, and it’s just another piece of the puzzle for us to have another quality of life piece for this area.”

On Monday, the first 100 people in line will receive free game play for the day. The Barboursville location will also have specials throughout the week. including half-price game play on Wednesdays.

Service industry night will be on Sundays with happy hour prices, and then College Night will be Thursday, also with happy hour prices.

The hours for the Barboursville location will be 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday through Thursday. It will stay open until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Since the hours are later than the mall's, Willey said the entrance next to Cinemark would be the best option for visitors to get in and out when the mall is closed.

Willey also said there is a special events manager that can help with birthday parties, work parties and even events where a company could rent out the entire place for parties or team building.

“We’re excited to be part of the community," he said. "We're excited to be close to Marshall with all the college kids able to come up and have a good time with just excited to get started.”