We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Caswell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.

Jessica , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

When we first started our business journey, we knew one thing… we wanted to open an arcade bar that focused on 80s and 90s nostalgia. Several names were tossed around, but we quickly found that those names were already in use. As we sat down to watch some TV one night, I looked down at the remote control and saw the rewind button. As if a light bulb came on over my head, I thought “Rewind”! We added retrobar to make sure everyone knows we love all things retro and are a cocktail bar! The rest is history.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Rewind Retrobar is a cocktail bar located in Knightdale, NC. At Rewind, we wanted to bring something to our small suburb of Raleigh. The four business partners had lived in Knightdale for several years and we wanted to bring that downtown Raleigh feel to Knightdale. Our goal was to give a place in our community for people to meet, have fun, and have their very own “Cheers”. We’ve bought a night life to Knightdale that was somewhat lacking before.

In the past year we’ve hosted over 150 events to bring people out! Events such as 80s workouts, retro car meet ups, karaoke, trivia, music bingo, and more! Our goal to bring people together worked! So many friendships have formed because they met at Rewind!

We also like to pride ourselves on our cocktails! Not only do our bartenders come up with delicious creations, they have retro themed names! One fan favorite is the Showtime Synergy, which is themed after the 80s cartoon Jem and the Holograms. This interactive cocktail starts with a  pink sugar rimmed martini glass filled with cotton candy. The customer gets a beaker of the cocktail, which they get to pour over the cotton candy. Just as Jerrica Benton transformed into Jem, this cocktail transforms before your very eyes. 

Another major core of our business is the retro gaming! Our business is in a long and narrow building, which we affectionately call the mullet. The business (bar) is in the front and the party (retro gaming) is in the back! We have a variety of arcades available to play for a fee and we have 6 retro game systems set up for free play. Whether you love to play Tetris or Super Mario 3 is your jam, we have it all! We love to see our customers reliving their childhoods at Rewind. But the best part, you can play your favorite games, alongside a delicious cocktail!

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

We mainly use social media to keep in touch with customers and keep them up to date with our events. We host a lot and a large variety of events to keep people coming back for more. I believe the friendships people have made and the fun events we are hosting bring people back!

One of our most popular events is karaoke. We’ve had customers tell us that they feel like this monthly event is “like a group of friends hanging out and having fun, no matter who shows up”. We wanted to have a safe and supported environment where everyone feels welcome and we believe we have achieved that.

We also believe that having the owners at the bar, interacting with our customers, has made this place feel like a family more than a business.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

There are four business partners/two couples, George and Cara Lancaster & Dan and Jessica Caswell, who own Rewind. We met in our previous neighborhood. We would often go to downtown Raleigh to hang out and felt Knightdale needed a place to call our own. As COVID was ending, we thought that might be the time to try and own a cocktail bar in Knightdale. We bought our varied talents together, whether it was a love for gaming or just loving to throw a good party and put together something really special.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rewindretrobar.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewindretrobar/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rewindretrobar

Image Credits

Megan Morales Photography