Bar Owners Plan Dickson Street Theater

Jimmy Rapert and Benton Bandy, owners of JR’s Lightbulb Club and Pizzeria, plan to open a “multi-type venue” in the building on Fayetteville’s Dickson Street that previously housed Adam’s Outfitters, an outdoor sporting goods store.

The facility — tentatively named The Dickson Street Theater — would consist of a large room that could accommodate 300 to 400 people and would serve as a movie theater, ballroom and tavern. The building might also be rented out for wedding receptions and office parties, Rapert said.

The two signed a lease on the building March 3 with Jim McConnell of Cane Hill. Rapert and Bandy plan to spend about $100,000 for extensive renovations. Construction would take at least three months, Rapert said.

“It’s going to be a different bundling when we’re finished,” he said.

The Adam’s Outfitters location has been a bar in a previous incarnation. In the 1980s, it was The Landing Strip. With only five parking spaces out front, parking was a problem then. But Rapert says times have changed. Dickson Street patrons are used to parking in lots nearby and walking to businesses along the street instead of parking at the front door.

It’s a good thing: The Downtown/Dickson Enhancement Project wants the five parking spaces in front of the building as part of a beautification project for the street, and Rapert said they could have them.

“Five spots to me is more of a hindrance than a help,” Rapert said.

With the spaces gone from in front of the building, there would be room for outdoor seating in front of the business, Rapert said.

On some nights, Rapert said, the ballroom would serve as a theater showing second run movies on a large screen. The next night, it might be converted into a live music or comedy venue.