Eagle Arcade Closes Doors Permanently

COVID-19 has claimed another beloved Treasure Valley business. 

If you're someone who loves retro video games, this one is going break your heart. In response to to the COVID-19 pandemic, Grinkers Grand Palace closed their doors to customers on March 18.

In May, they sent an open letter to neighbors in Eagle announcing that they would not be reopening to the general public, but rather as a private membership venue. Only those who purchased a family or individual membership and their guests would be allowed to access to the arcade. The new business model was put in place to help control occupancy and tighten up sanitation efforts to keep members healthy.

Unfortunately, the business model and prorated abatement adjustments of the lease not applying to COVID were an unsustainable combination. Via their Facebook page, the arcade announced that they've closed their doors after eight years.

The collection of over more than 100 '80s arcade games was sold to an arcade collector in Salt Lake City who plans to not only keep it together, but combine it with other titles that Grinkers didn't previously have. Unfortunately for arcade fans in the Treasure Valley, the games will live in Salt Lake City.

It was important to Grinkers's owners to not leave their employees high and dry, so they'll be opening a small sandwich shop in the former Zen Bento building an give their employees a place to work.

I'm crushed to see Grinkers go. I'll never forget the look on my husband's face the first time we went there. Just as he was saying "If they have Spy Hunter, I'm going to freak out" we rounded the corner and there it was...the sit down version of Spy Hunter. I think I left him at that game for close to 30 minutes while I played Pacman, Dig Dug, Super Mario Brothers and dozens of other games.