Hero Zone: Where Social VR Meets Real-World Revenue -
Arthur Hengler, who owns the Sandbox VR venue franchise in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, paid $1.5 million for the former CVS building that houses it, the Triad Business Journal reported in June 2025. The paper later reported about $3 million invested in the venue, so half of the investment is in real estate Hengler owns rather than rents.
The venue opened in the former CVS in downtown Winston-Salem on 14 August 2026. Two more franchise owners opened Sandbox VR venues in the eight weeks that followed: Ritesh Kumar in Charlotte on 18 September and Vic Ali in Jacksonville, Florida, on 9 October.
Hengler’s venue fills 6,000 square feet of a building that was a CVS drugstore until 2024. Besides four VR rooms, it has a bar and a private party room. The Triad Business Journal reported more than 4,000 customers in the venue’s first seven weeks.
Most location-based entertainment venues lease their space. A franchise owner who buys the building pays a mortgage instead of rent, and the property stays with the owner.
“This is the strategy that has made many millionaires out of McDonald’s franchisees. They buy the real estate underlying the building and the business covers the debt service. It’s a smart strategy instead of just throwing money away in rent,” said Bob Cooney, a VR consultant and executive director of LEXRA, the trade association for location-based XR, who began his career operating immersive location-based entertainment in 1989. Cooney publishes The VR Collective; his longer look at Sandbox VR’s franchise economics is on bobcooney.com.
Kumar’s Charlotte venue is the state’s second. It sits at The Station at LoSo, in Charlotte’s Lower South End, and covers more than 4,400 square feet. Sandbox VR worked with Nextgen Virtual LLC on the Charlotte venue. The VR Collective reported the Charlotte opening in its 30 September story on Sandbox VR’s first Spanish venue.
“Charlotte continues to grow as a destination for dining, nightlife, and interactive entertainment, and we believe Sandbox VR will be a great addition to that mix,” said Kumar, franchise owner of Sandbox VR Charlotte.
Ali’s Jacksonville venue covers 4,518 square feet at St. Johns Town Center. It runs Stranger Things: Catalyst, Age of Dinosaurs, Rebel Moon: The Descent and Deadwood Origins, which Sandbox VR launched on 1 October.
All three venues run four private rooms of up to six guests, 24 players at once. Floor area runs from 4,400 square feet in Charlotte to 6,000 in Winston-Salem, where the extra space holds the bar and the party room.
Sandbox VR counts more than 90 locations and runs corporate-owned venues alongside franchised venues. In September, franchise owner Bao Phung opened his second Australian Sandbox VR venue in Melbourne.
For franchise investors, the Winston-Salem deal splits one investment between a building and a business. For owners of closed drugstores, it shows a franchise owner arriving as a buyer, not only as a tenant.
How much did the Winston-Salem Sandbox VR franchise owner pay for the building? $1.5 million for the former CVS, the Triad Business Journal reported in June 2025. The paper later reported about $3 million invested in the venue overall.
Who owns the Sandbox VR venue franchise in Winston-Salem? Arthur Hengler. The venue opened on 14 August 2026 and covers 6,000 square feet in a former CVS.
Who owns the Sandbox VR venues in Charlotte and Jacksonville? Ritesh Kumar owns the Charlotte venue at The Station at LoSo, opened on 18 September 2026. Vic Ali owns the Jacksonville venue at St. Johns Town Center, opened on 9 October 2026.
How many players does a Sandbox VR franchise venue hold at once? All three venues have four private rooms of up to six guests each. The rooms run at the same time, so each venue holds 24 players at once.
