Pieces, a board game restaurant and bar in the city鈥檚 Soulard neighborhood, is moving.
Currently, Pieces can be found across the street from the Soulard Farmers Market at 1535 South Eighth Street, but in January, the business will relocate a mile south to 2727 South 12th Street, near the Anheuser-Busch campus.
The new space, an old police station, is 22,000 square feet and can hold up to 499 guests, four times more than its current capacity, Pieces co-owner Laura Leister said. The sale for the building closed this month.
Leister said she knew since the end of Pieces鈥 first year in business that they鈥檇 have to expand eventually.
Since opening in 2016 at the hands of Leister, her husband, James Lettau, and business partner Ameet Rawal, the business has steadily grown in popularity.
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鈥淲e were filling up and we had long waits on the weekend,鈥 Leister said of their first year. 鈥淚t blew up.鈥
Diners can pay a library fee to have access to Pieces鈥 inventory of over 800 board games. The restaurant serves brunch on the weekends and dinner.
Pieces鈥 current lease ends in November, so Leister said this was the perfect time to make the move. Given the old police station鈥檚 Art Deco design and historical significance, Leister said it was the perfect space.
鈥淭his is our moment to expand our footprint and make it permanent in Soulard,鈥 Leister, a self-proclaimed Soulardian, said.
The three Pieces owners also own and operate Protagonist Caf茅, a literature-themed coffee shop at 1700 South Ninth Street, so they are opening a new shop and roaster, Antagonist Caf茅, at the Pieces鈥 new home.
Antagonist Caf茅 will have the same menu as its sister shop but will be darker and more serious in theme to match the building鈥檚 style, Leister said.
She said they are working on rehabilitating the old police station and hope to maintain the historical integrity. They have plans to update the police marquee to say 鈥渃af茅鈥 and are thinking about how to transform the seven holding cells in the building. Leister said one will become a cozy book nook.
As for Pieces鈥 menu, Leister said they will continue to offer a diverse range of foods, but the new menu will be more elevated to match the Art Deco theme.
Antagonist Caf茅 is slated to open by Thanksgiving while Pieces is scheduled to open in early January.
鈥淚ts just so exciting,鈥 Leister said. 鈥淧eople are jazzed. 鈥 We love our bars in Soulard but we don鈥檛 have a lot of concepts.鈥