If you’re one of the many, many people who have been desperately waiting for the new downtown RJ Rockers Tap Room to open, try not to explode when you read the following sentence: It opens to the public tomorrow.
Gary Glancy over at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal has the story …
After weeks of waiting, the Tap Room at RJ Rockers at the corner of West Main Street and Daniel Morgan Avenue is about to open.
Although separately owned and operated from the RJ Rockers Brewing Co. next door in the former Salvation Army building, the Tap Room will essentially be an extension of the brewery, which has been making beer in its new downtown digs since August.
So, what will the place be like? When it comes to covering beer, Glancy delivers.
[The Tap Room] will start out with 34 taps — including all 11 of Rockers’ current offerings, from the last kegs of the spring/summer seasonal, Son of a Peach Wheat Ale, to the just-released winter seasonal, First Snow Ale. A limited wine list also will be offered.
The 2,400-square-foot space that once housed the Salvation Army thrift store has been transformed to include a 40-foot bar, eight flat-screen TVs for sports fans, video games and a music stage.
Just like the old Rockers brewpub, the Tap Room will host a trivia night on Saturdays, plus karaoke Thursdays and Fridays and musical performances down the road. The establishment will also be smoke-free inside, with wraparound sidewalk seating outside.
While this is great news for local beer lovers, the economic impact of the opening on downtown in general will almost certainly be profound. Tons of people coming downtown to drink local beer — and later to visit the adjacent Main Street Pub — will certainly mean more money going into the local economy. But it’ll also mean more people downtown in general, which means more foot traffic for local eateries and more motivation for retailers to consider a move to the downtown area in general.
And when combined with the 2000-ish people (and that’s a low-end guess) that will be taking working or taking classes at the new USC-Upstate business college and the coming Spartanburg Community College campus (many of which will be wanting a beer after class/work I’d imagine), the impact only become more significant.
So, is this opening the first signs of a real economic recovery in downtown Spartanburg? Are you skeptical about it, having been burned in the past by other downtown revitalization initiatives? Superstitious about it, and not wanting to jinx it by getting all excited? Or are you just happy something — anything — is finally happening downtown?
Steve Shanafelt
YES! As a pretty dedicated beer snob, I’ve been waiting for this for months. Finally, a place where I can get a good beer selection within walking distance of my house. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few places downtown that have some good stuff, but not really the selection and variety I’ve been looking for. I’ll definitely be checking the place out this weekend. Here’s hoping it’s half as cool as I think it’s going to be.
IT’S ABOUT TIME!
I’d love to see the Downtown Spartanburg Utopia you envision, Steve, but from here it looks a bit Pollyannish.
Hope I’m wrong and we will have wealthy book bearing, sandwich eating, beer guzzling, drunken people meandering into traffic late at night for years to come!
I don’t exactly see it becoming a Utopia, although I could see why you’d read it that way. I just think the town — specifically the area in and around downtown — is about to experience a massive change due to some very non-Utopian forces, specifically investment money and start-up businesses hoping to cater to students.
There’s more to it than that, though. There’s a social change happening here as well. I suspect that it’s been a VERY long time coming, but that we’re only starting to see visible effects. Rockers is just a part of it, as are the colleges, as is the arts and music scene’s rapid growth and any number of other similar trends.
But while this personally intrigues me — I moved here a little over a year ago specifically because it looked like the city was a creative power keg waiting for … well, a spark, and I wanted to be around to watch it happen — I don’t want to give the impression that I think it’s all going to be happy, wonderful good stuff.
If you want an example, there have been an awful lot of poor black families moving out of Hampton Heights recently, which is a sure sign that the wheels of gentrification are turning.
I am sooooooooooo excited. We will visit this weekend. Go Rockers! I’m glad they chose our Downtown.
Maybe we should arrange a special Spark-readers excursion to the place? Any ideas on a day or time?
I’m in unless it’s on Friday. I’m planning on going to see Mark Higgins Band at the Showroom that night.
Why couldn’t you do both? Rockers is like a block and a half from the Showroom.
Ok, as long as we do it before the show Friday would work.
I like the idea as well.
I will plan on going down Thursday night for sure! I’m sure the will have all the “First Snow Ale” that I’ll be able to drink!
First snow! First snow!
I can taste them now! I hope it’s non-smoking!
Article says non-smoking.
man i’m excited. I love beer.
and another place to host live music? we need more of this
I wonder when they will starting having shows.
I’ve had this idea for a while that it’d be really cool for the taproom once a night to play Tom T. Hall’s great song “I Like Beer”. It is, quite possibly, the greatest drinking song ever written by an American. In my mind, there are happy beer-drinking people singing along.
It might be the best idea I’ve ever had.
Here’s a link to Hall singing it live back in 1990 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i5k4I1AOEI
I don’t really drink alcohol but I will have to visit. Psyched about growing local business.
Hey, check out the info on the Rockers website under “Sustainability.” The boilers are powered by solar power and the closed system (i.e., steam-capture) recycles 90% of the water!
http://www.rjrockers.com/home.asp
I just read that. They just demonstrated something that I hope more businesses can figure out to do with just a little investment and a some ingenuity. Their recycling methods make me very happy, even local farmers and crafters benefit. Go Rockers! Now to figure out a time to arrange my visiting the place, preferably with friends.
Someone is Spartanburg County needs to start growing barley and hops so that they don’t have to ship in their grain!
I went yesterday for a beer. I have to say, it reminds me a LOT of cleaner/newer terry’s taproom. I think that’s essentially what it is since one of the former owners of terry’s took over. (from what I understand)
the only missing thing is the pac-man machine.
I think it’s great though, the stage is very adequate so I’m very anxious to see what the live music brings to it.
WOW! I am SO thrilled to see so many comments on this thread, even about our new Sustainability page that I got up a bit ago.
The brewery is gaining so much recognition and I truly hope this means they will be the example and others will follow.
The Taproom was BOOMING last night. I was at the brewery for a work event and people were dueling over parking spaces, it seems.
And First Snow this year is just as wonderful as last year.