Tyler Street Arcade Hopes to Be a Destination for Fun
Owner Edward Krzysztof, left, and manager Robert Williams celebrating the arcade's grand opening.
Tyler Street Arcade, located at 214 Tyler St., held its grand opening on Oct. 25 and welcomed the community to enjoy new and old arcade machines.
"I said, I'm going to do something to help Tyler Street. And I bought the building in pretty much disrepair. We rebuilt it all, pretty much from the inside," he said. "And we all went to the town and said, 'What can we do?' And I said, How about an arcade for all the kids? And they said it was a wonderful idea. So that's what we did."
Krzysztof grew up in Pittsfield and spent a lot of his time at this building, which was formerly Finn and Feather Pet Shop. He bought the property as Krzysztof Properties LLC in May 2023 for $115,000.
"I was born and raised in Pittsfield. All my life. My grandmother lived right across the street on Pleasure Ave and my family house, where my mom lived on Glenwood Ave, just down the road here in Tyler Street," he said. "I came to this building many times as a kid, and it was more than just Finn and Feathers, like an aquarium for fish and a whole bunch of stuff. And I really liked the building. And as I was growing up, I said, 'One day, I'm going to own this building,' because I was really just infatuated with it."
Krzysztof used to go to an arcade when he was growing up. The venues were particularly in vogue through the 1970s into the mid-1990s and offered pinball and videogame machines and other electromechanical amusements, often for a quarter. Their popularity began to wane with the introduction of home consoles and streaming.
Kids who came to the soft opening the night before the ribbon cutting were unsure how the arcade works and Krzysztof said he was delighted to teach them about coin slots.
"My only experience is actually playing at the arcades when I was a kid, and I got friends that own arcades and this and that, and I just want to go old school," he said. "And it was funny, last night, the kids were here, and they didn't know where to put a coin, they asked for a credit card reader. And I'm like, 'No, there's a coin slot,' and so we're teaching them."
Krzysztof says this will be a safe space for kids to hang out and have fun.
"The parents can rest assured, they'll feel safe here, because there's no smoking, we're strict on what comes in here and we're going to make it a safe place for the kids," he said. "That's the biggest thing. That's what I wanted to do."
The arcade has around two dozen machines including classic games as well as some updated versions, and accessible for adults and younger children.
"I had to have 'Mortal Kombat.' I always loved the punch in game, I never broke my wrist," Krzysztof said. "The beauty of it is a lot of arcades need to make money to survive. We give a little bit better prizes and it won't cost as much for the kids and the families around here. So we got great prizes all the way up to an Xbox, and we'll have other prizes, and we'll adjust as necessary. This was pretty much a good start, and we are always looking for suggestions."
On opening day, many children and families stopped in to play some games and check out the building. Krzysztof was reassured that they were enthused about coming to the arcade and spending time with friends rather than spending time on their phones.
The arcade's general manager Robert Williams was in charge of renovating the interior of the building. He said it took a lot of work but he's happy to see it open and the children enjoying their time with their families. He also said they will be changing out games so that people will be able to try different machines every time they come.
"It's not a major arcade, it's a fun, little quaint, you know, it's got that charm to it. But, we're going to rotate out games every month as we acquire new ones," Williams said. "We're going to figure out ones that people want, acquire new ones and continuously rotate games out."
The arcade will also host tournaments, and have an Xbox that can be rented to play there.
The arcade is currently open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Find more information on Facebook or contact at 413-770-9974 or TylerStArcade214@gmail.com
Tags: arcade, video games,
