Copper & Glass refines JC Penney into upscale duckpin bowling lounge

The old JC Penney building in downtown Johnson City will be seeing a major upgrade with the construction of Copper & Glass – a duckpin bowling lounge. Heath Ricker, owner of Copper & Glass, said while he personally does not have much experience in a food or beverage industry, starting Copper & Glass came from recognizing a need in downtown. "People look for things to go and do," Ricker said. "I just realized, when I was in college, there was nothing to actually do. You can go eat, you can go drink, you can do whatever but there's nothing to do while you do those things. That's where this entire idea even came from." Copper and Glass has been in the works for six years, Ricker said, with his original idea for the company beginning in 2019 while he was a senior at East Tennessee State University. He said his business will offer high-quality drinks, a more up-scale lounge experience in the building's mezzanine and, of course, the duckpin bowling areas. "Copper and Glass is essentially supposed to give people a more polished night out," Ricker said. Renovations for the JC Penney building are currently underway to create Ricker's vision for the duckpin bowling business. He said most of the work has been taking out walls and moving the entrance up to match the building's window's on the street. He added the mezzanine will also have to have touch-ups, such as new stairs to access it, as well as expanding its size to accommodate a private party space for customers. "We're not just taking a paint brush and putting makeup over it," Ricker said. "You gotta get down to the bones where it's so old." Though some elbow-grease is going into getting JC Penney's business-ready, Ricker said he chose downtown because he wants to be a part of the revitalization of the district. He added the size of the historic building also allows for more customers to be in the space, creating a feeling of togetherness for the community. "I think that's actually what my passion is, is to bring people together, whatever facet it may be," he said. "If you are allowed to have 150 to 200 people, whatever the fire code ends up saying it is, you can have that many people in there rather than just 50." Ricker said Copper & Glass will also bring an estimated 50 jobs to the area, with 20 predicted to be full-time positions. With an opening date projected in September or October, Ricker said his favorite part of the process is his personal connection with the area and having a chance to be a part of its continual development. "The only reason I've did this – it seemed like it was going to be impossible to do it – is it's not just about making money, it's because I love where I live," Ricker said. "I genuinely want to see this come to life again down here…This may help it take two steps forward, but I want to see this area grow. All downtowns are cool, and we have a unique downtown, so I want to see it actually grow and people come down here."