Tori’s bought by Charles City bar owner

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

Tori’s Bar and Grille has been bought by Joe Hull, the owner of Hot Shots Billiards. The deal was closed Friday.

For now Hull will maintain ownership of the Hot Shots Billiards location, but there is currently a pending sale on the property.

On Monday, April 17, Hull and crew worked on remodeling the Tori’s building.

Aspects of both Hot Shots and Tori’s will be combined at the riverside location with the pool tables being moved to a new location at Tori’s on the north wall, while maintaining the dance floors, Hull said.

He plans on moving the dance floors so that people driving down Main Street can see the lights on and see people dancing, Hull said. The dance floor was virtually hidden before.

Hull hasn’t decided whether he wants to change the name, he said.

“I might add a name to show a more inviting name for the bar and grill side of things,” Hull said.

Hull is hoping to have the new establishment open by mid-June.

“I’d like to have a couple of weeks under my belt before the fourth of July,” Hull said. “We’re still working on getting it out of the floodway.”

The new restaurant will require a whole new staff and Hull plans on hiring quite a few people, he said.

“I’ve got a few people in mind,” Hull said. “I need more help for sure.”

Expansion is the goal for Hull.

“I’m going to stick with the five pool tables that I have. I’m going to have a much larger bar with much larger options,” Hull said. “I was really limited on space in my old space. We’ll get a bunch of craft beers in here.”

Hull said he is looking forward to not having to move all the pool tables to have a DJ, he said.

“Here, I’ll have a dance floor all the time that I can have pool tournament during the day and DJ or a band can start at night. Kind of hit everything,” Hull said.

Hot Shots will remain open, but only two days of the week, until the space has been sold, Hull said.

“Hot Shots is coming over here regardless,” Hull said. “I’m actually open Friday and Saturday nights till it sells.”

Hull had problems with people thinking that Hot Shots was only a pool hall and not a bar as well, and hopes to market his new location to be more inviting, he said.

“I want everybody to know it’s for everybody,” Hull said. “I need a bigger market.”

Hot Shots had been around for two and half years, Hull said.

“It wasn’t enough,” Hull said of just owning that one business.