The Hoboken Girl Team 
The recently closed Jersey City Barcade is officially putting its liquor license back on the market, though its Founder + CEO is emphasizing that the sale does not signal a permanent exit from the city. Barcade had a 14-year run at 163 Newark Avenue in Jersey City, and was a destination for food, drinks, and of course, games. It closed in April 2025. Now, the bar’s liquor license is for sale, and The Hoboken Girl chatted with Barcade Founder + CEO Paul Kermizian about the latest update. Read on for more about what’s next for the Jersey City location of Barcade.
Barcade’s Closure
Barcade’s concept is like your cool childhood friend’s basement, but better. With wall-to-wall games, a wide selection of draft beers, and great pub food, it was a popular destination for a night out. There are locations in Pennsylvania and New York City. Barcade is a certified green company, which means that it tries to have as little waste as possible. Barcade composts what it can, straws are not provided, and there are no bottled beers, which keeps down the waste output — not many bars can say they do that.
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Paul said that earlier this year, the company had a buyer lined up for the license, but the deal ultimately fell apart when the buyer was unable to secure a required waiver due to a nearby church. With that transaction dissolved, the license is once again available. According to the company, the decision to sell the license is tied more to timing and regulatory realities than to a lack of commitment to Jersey City. “This isn’t really connected to us not reopening in Jersey City,” Barcade founder and CEO Paul Kermizian said. “We do want to come back.”
The closure of the bar itself was not voluntary. Barcade lost its lease when the landlord moved forward with plans to redevelop the property. While construction projects, especially full-building demolitions, are often delayed, this was not the case, leaving the business without enough time to secure a new location in Jersey City before the lease ended.
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Compounding the challenge, the company had just completed its most ambitious project to date: a massive new location in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District. The FiDi outpost is located at 10 Cortlandt Street and opened in August 2025. Paul said it was the largest and most expensive location the company has ever built. The scale of that investment has required time to stabilize financially and operationally.
Back to Jersey City
“There was always going to be a gap before we could reopen in Jersey City,” Paul explained. “We needed time to recover from the financial and personal stress of opening New York City, and then we’d start seriously looking for a new JC space. That’s still the intention, just with an unknown timeline.”
New Jersey’s liquor laws also played a role in the decision to sell the license. Under current regulations, businesses cannot hold licenses indefinitely without using them. If the company decides it needs a license again in the future, it would pursue one at that time.
The broader hospitality landscape has also been a factor. Industry-wide challenges have made the past year particularly difficult, with alcohol sales declining even as customers continue to show up for games and food. In that context, Paul says it makes sense to pause, reassess, and wait for conditions, such as rent prices and market stability, to improve.
One thing Paul is firm about: “If Barcade does return to Jersey City, it will not be on the Pedestrian Plaza,” he said. The operational and maintenance challenges of doing business there proved too difficult, and any future location would need to be elsewhere in the city.
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Despite the closure, the emotional connection to Jersey City remains strong. It was the company’s second-ever location, and closing it was painful. “We really didn’t want to close,” Paul said. “But it’s business—it has to make sense. We love Jersey City, and we very much want to be back. It’s just a matter of timing.”
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