Nerdies Aims to Open in 1Q 2014
by January 6, 2014 12:00 am 78 views
“Nerds” throughout Northwest Arkansas might soon have a place to call their own.
Brad Harvey is the visionary behind Nerdies, a gaming hangout/learning hub/techie lab for people of all ages, but primarily geared toward youths 10 to college-age.
Harvey believes he has a social responsibility to “nerds,” who he says are “people that are really, really smart and like being smart.”
He decided to make it his mission to create a space for smart kids who don’t particularly like sports, aren’t particularly sociable and couldn’t care less about current trends.
Nerdies will be a cool place with a coffee shop vibe, where kids can hang out, play games and learn. Classes will be offered in robotics, photography, foreign language, computer programming and just about anything that interests “nerds.”
Harvey’s idea nabbed the Crowd Favorite award at Northwest Arkansas Startup Weekend and has sparked the interest of business partners like Engineering with IT and Fayetteville architect Bradley Edwards, who drew the design plan for the Nerdies space.
He’s been in talks with potential investors, but nothing has been finalized, and Harvey estimates he still needs $75,000 to $100,000 to open Nerdies, if it’s going to be done right.
Some big purchases include several 60-inch TVs for gaming and several computers for the students to do design work.
Harvey says Nerdies will be an “incubator of awesomeness.”