Jillian's was a restaurant and entertainment chain with locations in the United States, headquartered in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

. As of December 2018, all former locations have been closed.

History

Jillian's was founded in 1985 as a

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

club located near

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Bas ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

by Stephen Foster. The club was named after Foster's wife, Jillian. The couple later founded the chain

Lucky Strike Lanes Lucky Strike is a bowling alley chain operated by Lucky Strike Entertainment, LLC, which owns and operates a chain of facilities that include bowling alleys and billiard parlors, bars, lounges, restaurants and venues for art and music. Founded in ...

. Within several years, the owners opened another branch in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. By the early 1990s, it had become a competitor of

Dave & Buster's Dave & Buster's is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's has a full-service restaurant and a video arcade. As of October 2022, the company has 151 locations in the United States and two ...

, expanding its locations to include restaurants,

video game arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as ...

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s, and

conference room A conference hall, conference room, or meeting room is a room provided for singular events such as business conferences and meetings. Room It is commonly found at large hotels and convention centers though many other establishments, including even ...

s. By 2000, there were roughly 30 locations in the U.S. and one in

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, Canada. In August 2001, the LA area Jillian's was seen on GSN as Jeffrey Ross hosted in between episode spots for one week during GSN's Let's Make a Deal-a-thon, the week GSN started airing LMAD reruns. On May 25, 2004, Jillian's Entertainment Holdings, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and arranged to sell its assets. Nine of the Jillian's locations and the Jillian's tradename were sold to

. At least some of these locations were eventually converted to operation under the Dave & Buster's name, and some were rebranded as "Dave & Buster's Grand Sports Cafe". In 2009, D&B, which itself was going through the process of being sold from one

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

firm to another, sold the rights to the name to Gemini Investors. That company later established JBC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. to operate these locations. Many of the locations no longer exist: the location at Neonopolis in downtown

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

(which closed in 2008 after also being used as a concert venue) and the location at Peabody Place in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, which shut down in 2009, and the Jillian's of Boardman Township, Ohio at the Southern Park Mall was closed down on January 30, 2011, but for reasons unknown of the old Woolworth building. The location in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

closed down in February 2010. The

Cleveland Heights, Ohio Cleveland Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and one of Cleveland's historical streetcar suburbs. The city's population was 45,312 at the 2020 census. As of the 2010 census, Cleveland Heights was ranked the 8th largest ...

location also closed on February 20, 2011, and was converted into Myxx, a tapas bar, by its owner. The location in

was closed in 2012. The location in Peoria, Illinois closed May 2013. The location in Chesapeake, Virginia was closed July 28, 2014, then reopened as

GameWorks GameWorks is a gaming-based entertainment center with a single location as of 2022, a chain of such businesses. It was owned by then-owner ExWorks Capital, each venue featured a wide array of video game arcades, in addition to full-service bars a ...

on August 1, 2014. On January 6, 2016, Inside Universal reported that the Jillian's Hi-Life Lanes location in Universal City had closed and will be replaced by Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. In 2017, the

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

location closed, and the original Jillian's in Boston was converted into Lucky Strike Social, even though it kept the Jillian's branding. In 2018, the San Francisco Jillian's was converted into Tabletop Tap House, a hipster-styled similar joint.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.jillians.com (from the

Internet Archive Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

) Restaurants established in 1985 Entertainment companies established in 1985 Entertainment companies of the United States Video arcades Regional restaurant chains in the United States Defunct restaurant chains in the United States Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004 1985 establishments in Massachusetts Restaurants disestablished in 2018 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in Massachusetts Companies based in Reno, Nevada