LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Denise and Shawn Hipskind’s desire to help revitalize a community landed them in Benton, Arkansas.
"We wanted places for people to go and hang out and have fun— something that would attract more people to downtown Benton," says Shawn.
"We saw that they had an awesome courthouse with a neat surrounding downtown area, and we thought that if somebody would put some time and money into it that it could be something great," says Shawn.
The first thing they did was purchase and tear down a block of old houses and build 13 new houses in their place. Next, it was time to buy the historic Palace Theatre.
"The Palace Theatre was built in 1919 and was in pretty rough shape, so I feel like we did something pretty neat in saving that history," says Shawn.
The COVID-19 pandemic threw them a curve when the closing of dine-in restaurants was announced a week before their open date.
"That was not a part of our business plans," joked Denise.
Despite the obstacles, Valhalla Restaurant & Axe Throwing is open for dine-in, curbside pickup and delivery via Door Dash. The building is 12,000 square feet and features two restaurants, a courtyard with games and an axe-throwing room.
The Viking-themed restaurant's name ‘Valhalla’ is from Norse mythology and represents a place to eat, drink and have a good time.
Their current hours are:
- Monday: CLOSED
- Tuesday: CLOSED
- Wednesday: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Thursday:11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Friday:11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Saturday:11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Sunday: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Learn more at https://valhallabenton.com/.