A local entertainment business in the Bangor Mall announced it will close its doors for good after the process of getting a local license paused live performances for a month.
Owners Brian and Kim Plavnick announced G-Force Entertainment will close in a Facebook post Wednesday. The business offers live music, dancing and karaoke as well as laser tag, ax throwing, corn hole and arcade games.
The Plavnicks announced G-Force will close Monday. This means the last day to visit G-Force is Sunday, as the business is not open on Mondays.
“I wanted to give staff time to find work and give people time to come by and play with us one last time,” Brian Plavnick said.
G-Force is the latest business in the largely empty Bangor Mall to shutter. Its closure comes about six months after Half Acre Nightclub, another nightime entertainment destination in Bangor, closed after facing pressure from the city and neighbors to address a pattern of violent incidents and noise complaints.
G-Force opened in Brewer in 2006, then moved to the Bangor Mall in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Plavnicks to close, leading to tens of thousands in lost revenue.
While running the business led the Plavnicks to make new friends and host countless performers, they said running the business also exhausted them and caused them to miss time with their family.
“We’ve realized that life is too short,” the Plavnicks wrote. “We want to be able to spend time with our kids, visit family and friends, travel, and otherwise enjoy life as we are getting older.”
In March, the Bangor City Council granted the business a conditional special amusement permit allowing it to offer live performances and dancing. The condition on the license required the owners to meet with the city officials to ensure the business’ bolstered security measures are addressing the city’s concerns of overconsumption and disorderly behavior at the business.
In the month between realizing the business needed a local special amusement permit and obtaining it, G-Force had to cease live performances and dancing for a month. During that time, the business refunded everyone’s tickets and didn’t schedule or market any future performances because they weren’t sure the city council would grant the license, Brian Plavnick said.
Despite the financial loss and scheduling setback, the Plavnicks tried to keep G-Force afloat, but realized they wouldn’t be able to recover.
“People enjoyed what we did — that’s the only reason I tried to continue after what happened with the city,” Brian Plavnick said. “Seeing the smiles and people having fun are what kept me going.”
The need for improved safety measures arose after Bangor police responded to someone firing a gun in the Bangor Mall parking lot where G-Force patrons park on Feb. 26 at 1 a.m., Bangor Police Chief Mark Hathaway said during the March 27 city council meeting.
Though the people who had fired the gun had left when police arrived, officers spoke to G-Force patrons and staff and learned there had been a dispute between patrons inside G-Force before the shooting, Hathaway said.
The gun firing led city officials to discover the business never applied for a local special amusement permit, though it did have a state entertainment permit. G-Force did, however, receive a local liquor license after moving to Bangor in 2021.