It’s official: a 1920s-era warehouse building in Peoria is now headquarters to one of the most popular arcade games of all time. Founded in 1981, Pop-A-Shot invented the electronic basketball shooting game, and over time the Kansas-based company introduced a variety of industry innovations. Four years ago, Tony and Kelly Stucker purchased the company from its founder—but they live in San Francisco. So how did Pop-A-Shot end up in Peoria?
“We knew that moving it to California would be prohibitively expensive and a poor logistical location,” Stucker explains. “Kelly is from Peoria and still has family here, so we decided to look at it as a possible relocation site.” After touring available buildings in the Warehouse District—and falling in love with more than one—they settled on the two-story building at 918 SW Adams.
Over the last year, the building has been renovated into a large open office, arcade basketball display area, private offices and a conference room on the upper level, while the lower level will house shipping operations for custom backboard units. Historic preservation efforts included masonry restoration, a historic replica roof, heavy timber structure and window replacements.
“The renovation has gone extremely smoothly,” Stucker notes. “Doing it long-distance made us a little apprehensive, but our architect Farnsworth Group, contractor P.J. Hoerr, and all of the subcontractors have done a great job. Overall, the result is better than we could have anticipated.”
On January 16, Pop-A-Shot held a grand opening for its new headquarters, and by the end of 2020, all of its operations will be in Peoria—including sales, customer support, marketing and warehousing. “We expect to have 10 to 12 employees by the end of this year,” Stucker adds. “We’re really excited about the talented workforce in Peoria and all of the development in the Warehouse District.” PM
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