June 20, 2022

A group of friends who met playing pool are planning to open a billiards hall on the east side.

“All four of us are very heavy into pool, so this is our passion coming to life,” said Devinne Mertens, who will co-own Rack City Billiards with her husband, Kody, and their friends Aaron Stoterau and Marc Phillips.

They’re leasing space in the former Harvest Church at 309 S. Bahnson Ave. The church moved to a larger location, so the former building will be converted into the pool hall and a bar area.

The friends will start their lease in July “and tear everything out and put up a couple of walls to enclose a casino we plan on having in there and building the bar,” Mertens said. “We have 14 of the pool tables purchased, so we’re way ahead of the game as far as getting this up and running.”

They might have up to 20 tables eventually, she said. The plan is to offer daytime open play and practice time, with tables rented by the hour. Weeknights likely will host league play – the Mertens run one of several leagues in town – and weekends could host tournaments.

The plan also is to offer darts to start and potentially expand with sand volleyball and bean bags outside.

The friends “looked and looked” for a location that would work, Mertens said.

“This is about a year in the making,” she said. “I like that it’s close to the interstate, that’s a huge asset, and it’s close to other food sources. We aren’t going to have a full-service kitchen, it will be a convection oven and bar food, so we’d love to grow off that, but it’s nice to have options around us, and it’s not too far from hotels if we have players traveling from out of town.”

The east side also lacks a place to play pool since The Pocket closed, so “this will be huge for them,” Mertens said.

The city itself is limited as far as venues that host pool events. The Nickel Spot and Bigs Bar can accommodate them, but they often fill up or work around concert schedules, Mertens said.

Rack City Billiards will start with a beer and wine license and potentially add liquor if the option becomes feasible, she said.

The hope is to be open by early September. All the owners plan to keep their full-time jobs while helping out as they can and hiring a full-time bar manager.

“We have a lot of things lined up already, so hopefully it’s smooth sailing,” Mertens said.