Meet Emily & Luke Kunselman | Owners of Quarters Bar+Arcade

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily & Luke Kunselman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily & Luke, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Emily and I had visited our first bar & arcade in Denver back in 2012. As we wandered through, checking the place out, I said to her, “We need one of these in Longmont.” Over the next 5 years, we talked constantly about if we opened a bar & arcade of our own, what would it be like? Every trip we went on we made sure to find any bar and arcade we could. We would then talk about what we liked and didn’t like at each place. We finally decided in 2017 to start working on a business plan. We took a business plan writing class that was put on by the Small Business Development Center to formalize all the plans we had been making for years at this point. Emily and I are both from Longmont and have lived here all of our lives. We just wanted to bring something that you would normally find in only big cities to our small town.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Quarters Bar + Arcade is a unique bar and arcade compared to others around. We are a self-serve bar and arcade that uses RFID technology to activate the self-serve taps as well as the games. The RFID wristbands (or game cards) allow guests to build a tab of what they play and what they pour while they are visiting. This technology makes the guest experience unique, but also easy. True to our name though, all of our games will also play with quarters. We wanted to have a modern and unique experience, with the RFIDs, while also keeping that old school feel, if guests prefer to play with coins.

I think with any small business, the path to opening and operating is always challenging. We are always navigating how to increase our customer base or our visibility and how to increase revenue. It’s not easy, but it is rewarding. The people in our community are amazing! Our customers have shared with us that what we offer is more than just drinks and games. We have created a safe and welcoming community for our guests. A place where new friendships are made regularly. We enjoy getting to know our guests and seeing them come back time and again.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Downtown Longmont is a great place to bring guests. There are many fantastic bars and restaurants offering a variety of delectable cuisines and spirits. The retail shops have local gifts, art, boutique clothing, and so much more. Our Longmont Downtown Development Authority has put in a lot of effort to keep the downtown area pedestrian friendly and appealing to many types of visitors. You could easily spend a day or two exploring downtown Longmont and discovering all that it has to offer.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Boulder Small Business Development Center was amazing. The business plan writing class was awesome because it broke the giant project down to manageable tasks. We were able to work with local business professionals who had the experience and expertise that we were lacking in the beginning. They really helped us to formalize all our randomness so that we could go out and get bank funding for our new venture.

We really owe a lot to High Plains Bank (HPB) and the Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF) as well. We were a small startup with very little experience, but they stepped up and loaned us the money we needed to get up and going. HPB has continued to be a strong partner with us for the last 6 years. They were amazing during Covid, as well, and anytime we were needing extra capital.

We also owe a lot to our friends with Elite Construction and Roofing. The owners Rich and Kathy are good friends of ours and they really helped to keep our construction costs down so we could afford to do the buildout.

We found that during the whole startup process, we were amazed at how many friends and family members stepped up to help. If we ran into a problem that we didn’t know how to solve, we would start asking our friends and family, and we were able to solve each problem. It really does take a village sometimes.

Website: https://QuartersBarAndArcade.com

Instagram: @QuartersLongmont

Facebook: Quarters Bar+Arcade

Other: We are on TikTok @Quarters_Longmont

Image Credits
Photos by Eve Pavlovic, Abby Shepard, and Julie Schultz