The ribbon they cut on Thursday was real. The worlds behind it are virtual.
This weekend brings the grand opening of VRium Robotics and Amusement Park, a new Spanish Fort business whose founders aim to raise the bar for virtual reality entertainment. (Virtual Reality is where the “VR” comes from in the name, so VRium is pronounced V-R-ee-um, not vree-um.)
Its backers see it as a groundbreaking business model with major growth potential. How it came to call Spanish Fort home is a story with international roots and a close tie to Mobile’s growing profile in the aerospace industry.
Patrons coming in the door may see it as the arcade of the future. Instead of pinball machines, video games and a claw game full of stuffed animals, they’ll find more than 20 virtual reality stations in an array of configurations. Some are for one person; some are for four or six or more. Some put you atop a jet ski or at the wheel of a car, the machines providing motion to accentuate the changes in direction you perceive through your VR headset. Some provide a space within which patrons move, reacting to things only they can see. Some are self-serve, some require the help of an attendant.
VRium Robotics and Amusement Park in Spanish Fort features about 20 virtual reality stations, which take a wide variety of forms.Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com
For president and owner Cengiz Avci, this is the realization of a dream he’s had since watching Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Total Recall” as a kid back in 1990 or 1991. But the path here wasn’t a straight one.
A few years ago Avci was an avionics engineer working for Bombardier in Canada. When Airbus bought into the program and built a second assembly line in Mobile for the jet now known as the A220, Avci came to Mobile as part of the effort.
A couple of years later, he decided leave Airbus on a new venture of his own. “When the time came, I tried to make my dream real,” he said Thursday.
“He came in and said, ‘Help, I need a business plan,’” said Rick Miller, director of the Hatch business incubator created by the University of Alabama, the city of Fairhope and the Baldwin Community and Economic Development Foundation. “We pulled together a business plan that allowed him to stay here and not go back to Canada.”
Cengiz Avci shows the theater-style seating, which is on an articulated platform, that allows a group of nine to share a virtual reality experience in his new Eastern Shore business, VRium Robotics and Amusement Park.Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com
Among those on hand for Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony was Moisi Gjenerali. Like Avci, he worked for Bombardier in Canada and Airbus in Mobile. He said he was there to show support for his friend. Avci’s energy is amazing, Gjenerali said.
“He has several products, his patents, selling in Canada,” said Gjenerali. “He has a research group in Turkey working for him. And then he decides to open this beautiful store and we’re like, ‘Cengiz, what on Earth have you got in your mind?’ He said he had a hard time entertaining the kids during the COVID time, so he made a decision to bring this beautiful thing [to the Mobile area]. Cengiz, he’s a scientist on top of an engineer.”
One of the keys to Avci’s plan is that VRium offers a full range of virtual-reality stations. There are plenty of sites that offer one machine or a few, he said. But VRium allows users to explore the range of formats available. There’s everything from a cage ominously labeled “Doomsday Survival” to a four-seat VR experience for young children. There’s also a room where patrons will be able to interact with a humanoid robot named “Pepper.”
“This is the first of its kind in North America,” said Miller. “Nobody has got all these stations in one place.”
“What the VRium gives to the customer is all combinations, including robot experiences,” said Avci.
You want motion with your virtual experience? How much motion? Here, a patron is turned upside down during a ride on a virtual mine railway shown on the screen behind her. A VRium Robotics and Amusement Park attendant supervises.Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com
General manager Crystal Jordan described the new store in the Eastern Shore Centre as “a flagship.” She, Avci and others on hand said that the hope is to rapidly franchise the concept.
The vision, in the real world, is a big one.
“The idea was, I would like to create a new family entertainment culture,” said Avci, “instead of a regular business.”
VRium’s grand opening continues through the weekend of July 8-10 at 30500 Ala. 181, Suite 300. Pricing and other information can be found at www.vriumpark.com; use of VR simulators and amusement games starts at $12 per experience, with multi-game packages ranging from $30 to $95. Hours are noon-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday and noon-9 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
