Historical Analysis: Dave & Buster's 22K-SF Mayfaire Lease Tests Experiential Retail Demand

Business Summary

Dave & Buster's is taking 22,000 square feet at 953 Town Center Drive in Mayfaire Town Center, with a grand opening set for May 26, 2025. The lease absorbs a significant block of space at Wilmington's highest-traffic open-air retail center and signals CBL Properties' continued pivot toward experiential tenants. For the broader market, this is a real-time test of whether entertainment-dining concepts can anchor large-format retail space in a mid-size Southeast metro.

Fast Facts

• Tenant: Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc. (Coppell, TX)
• Location: 953 Town Center Drive, Mayfaire Town Center, Wilmington, NC
• Space: 22,000 sq ft — notably below the chain's typical 26,500–40,000 sq ft range
• Opening date: May 26, 2025
• Mayfaire total footprint: 654,345 sq ft, with 100+ stores, 20 restaurants, and 3 hotels
• Estimated annual visits (2024): 4.6 million
• Dave & Buster's system-wide: 174 locations across 43 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada
• Historical average unit volume: $11.8 million (fiscal year 2015; more recent AUV data unavailable)
• Other recent Mayfaire additions: J.Crew Factory (opening May 15, 2025), lululemon, Free People, FP Movement, Aerie, Kendra Scott (forthcoming), Rowan ear-piercing studio (opened July 18, 2025 at 6866 Main St, Suite B115)
• Job creation, construction cost, lease terms: Not publicly disclosed

What Happened

Dave & Buster's opened a 22,000-square-foot entertainment venue combining food, beverages, and arcade gaming at Mayfaire Town Center. The address is 953 Town Center Drive. According to verification sources, this is Wilmington's first Dave & Buster's location — the closest previous location was in Myrtle Beach. Discussions for the project began in summer 2023, and the venue was proposed as new construction on a vacant lot in Mayfaire.

The lease lands alongside a wave of new tenancy at Mayfaire. J.Crew Factory opened 11 days earlier on May 15, 2025. Over the past year, CBL Properties has added apparel brands targeting younger, higher-income demographics — lululemon, Free People, FP Movement, and Aerie — plus service-oriented concepts like Rowan (which opened July 18, 2025) and the upcoming Kendra Scott.

Why It Matters

Mayfaire's tenant strategy is clearly shifting from conventional goods retail toward experiential and service-based concepts that drive dwell time rather than per-trip transactions. Dave & Buster's is the largest single expression of that bet. At 22,000 sq ft, the venue will occupy roughly 3.4% of Mayfaire's total leasable footprint — a meaningful allocation to a single entertainment operator.

For CBL Properties, the calculation is straightforward: entertainment tenants pull traffic that benefits adjacent food, apparel, and specialty retail. Mayfaire's self-described positioning as "the only retail, dining, and entertainment destination of its kind within 100 miles" gives Dave & Buster's limited direct competition for the entertainment-dining dollar in the Cape Fear region.

For investors and commercial real estate professionals tracking the Wilmington retail corridor, the lease is a demand signal worth watching. If this format performs, it validates the experiential thesis for other mid-size Southeast markets. If it underperforms, it raises questions about the depth of discretionary spending in a metro of this size.

What Stands Out

• Smaller-than-standard format. At 22,000 sq ft, this is well below Dave & Buster's typical 26,500–40,000 sq ft footprint. The company explored smaller formats (15,000–20,000 sq ft) for markets with 200,000–500,000 population as far back as 2018, though there is no evidence of a current national small-format rollout in 2024–2025. The Wilmington venue's size may reflect a right-sized market entry rather than a flagship bet, but it should not be characterized as part of an active national small-format testing program.
• The tenant mix tells a story. Mayfaire is adding lululemon, Free People, J.Crew Factory, Kendra Scott, and now Dave & Buster's — all brands targeting upper-middle household income and lifestyle spending. CBL is curating for a demographic, not just filling vacancies.
• 4.6 million annual visits is a strong traffic base. That foot traffic supports the viability of an entertainment-dining concept that depends on impulse and repeat visits. The question is conversion rate and per-visit spend.
• First Dave & Buster's in Wilmington. Verification confirms this is a net-new market entry, not a relocation. The closest previous Dave & Buster's was in Myrtle Beach, which signals genuine market confidence from the chain.
• Historical AUV data is stale. The last publicly cited average unit volume of $11.8 million is from fiscal year 2015. Dave & Buster's corporate financials have been mixed in recent quarters, with the company pursuing a "back-to-basics" strategy and store remodels. Tenant credit quality is a live question for any landlord banking on this concept.

Market Lens: Demand Signal

This lease is best read as a demand signal for experiential retail in the Wilmington metro. Mayfaire's competitive moat — no comparable mixed-use entertainment destination within 100 miles — gives it pricing power and tenant leverage that most suburban open-air centers don't have. The Dave & Buster's commitment, combined with six or more new tenants in the past 12 months, suggests leasing velocity is strong and that national brands see the Wilmington consumer as affluent and underserved enough to justify expansion.

But the signal has limits. A 22,000-sq-ft entertainment lease in a market with no direct comparable doesn't prove sustainable demand — it proves willingness to test. The real demand confirmation comes 12–18 months post-opening, when same-store performance data either supports or undermines the format.

Risks & Watch-Outs

• Tenant financial health. Dave & Buster's has faced margin pressure and traffic softness at the national level, though visit growth was up 7.3% in Q3 2024 chain-wide. A corporate stumble could put this lease at risk before it matures.
• Construction and permitting timeline. No permit filings or construction cost data are publicly available. The venue opened May 26, 2025 as scheduled.
• Consumer discretionary spending. Entertainment-dining is among the first categories consumers cut when budgets tighten. Macro headwinds — interest rates, inflation, employment softness — directly threaten this concept's revenue model.
• Format risk. The smaller footprint relative to the chain's standard range is not well-proven at scale. Fewer games and less seating capacity could limit peak-hour revenue relative to the chain's standard locations.

Bottom line for decision-makers: The Dave & Buster's lease confirms Mayfaire's evolution toward experiential retail and validates national brand interest in the Wilmington corridor. As the first Dave & Buster's in the Wilmington market, it represents a genuine new demand test rather than a relocation. Watch tenant credit, opening-year traffic, and whether CBL continues to attract experiential tenants at this pace. The real signal arrives in late 2026.