VIP Vegas Arcade dream of new owner
Tucked away in a small plaza off Bayshore Road is the new VIP Club Casino Arcade, a Vegas-style fun place where players can play for gift cards to local stores and restaurants.
It is the dream of owner Phil Schwab, who looked to retire, but then opened the business for the love of the games – and the customers.
“Our customers are like family,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we did this.”
He said he was in the bar/restaurant business his entire working career, and planned to retire. Then he started working for a like gaming establishment, started playing the games, and enjoyed the atmosphere. “It’s a fun business. You have to be a people person to run a business like this and we all are – myself and my staff. You just have a good time.”
The staff includes Randy Johnson, Mary Siegel and Vicky Cross.
“The customers are like family,” Cross said.
Siegel agreed. “And it is just fun working here. And Northerners are already coming back, and giving us big hugs.”
Already they are starting to see Northern friends come back and find their new location.
Schwab was born and raised in Florida, Stanford, actually. “I spent one cold year away and decided that wasn’t for me.”
He’s a big fan of the North Fort Myers community and the people here. “We have people that come in from the local communities who all know each other,” Schwab said. “Recently many have come down from the North, and ran into their neighbors here before they saw them in their communities.”
The business features Vegas-like games. “We have everything from Video Poker to eight-to-15 line games,” he continued.
Before starting the business, he wanted to find a good location. He found a quite different one, an old laundromat, on Bayshore Road across from the Cape Coral Eye Center.
“Randy almost single-handedly re-did the whole place,” Schwab said.
It is still a work in progress, soon to sport a 1950s full motif. Right now, there is an antique jukebox and an Elvis tribute wall complete with a replica gold record, both pieces brought in by customers.
“Customers bring in things all the time,” he said.
For winners, there are gift certificates instead of cash.
“We will work with customers to give them gift cards to the place of their choice,” said Schwab. “We custom fit.”
They have different specials, like match play everyday and men’s and ladies’ day, along with bingo.
The formal address is 5780 Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers, about 150 yards east of Sweetbay Market. The phone number is 599-4454.