"You walk into any other sports bar over there and either it's very loud or it's very dull," Rajbans Joshi told Richmond BizSense this summer. He was describing the Midwest pubs he and three friends visited before they signed on as franchisees. Barrel House was the exception they found, and it is the reason a crew from Riverstone is now working inside 12646 Stone Village Way.
The new places within a few minutes of Stonehenge this year share a pattern. They are taking over storefronts that already held the same kind of business. Two of the three are brands making their first appearance anywhere in the Richmond area, and all three are run by local owners.
One address, three pubs
The space at Stonehenge Village has been a beer-focused pub for most of this decade. It is about 2,900 square feet in the Wegmans-anchored shopping center.
| Tenant | What happened | Source timing |
|---|---|---|
| Growler USA | Opened in the space as a growler-themed pub | First reported by BizSense in May 2019 |
| 101 Crafthouse | The same business after a rebrand; closed after about five years | Closed in 2025 |
| Barrel House | Iowa-based pub chain, now under construction | Permit issued Sept. 15, 2026; December target |
The newest permit shows how much work is going into the space. Chesterfield County issued a $600,000 tenant-improvement permit for the Barrel House restaurant on Sept. 15, 2026, and Riverstone is listed as the contractor. That is a full renovation for a room that has been a pub since 2019.
The ownership group gave What Now DC more detail on the layout. The plan calls for roughly 3,000 square feet inside plus a patio of 400 to 500 square feet, with room for about 100 to 120 guests. In August, Joshi said the group hoped to open in November or December with a staff of about 20. By early September the owners said they had no firm opening date yet but were aiming for December. Think of December as the owners' goal. Nobody has promised it.
What's on the menu
Barrel House's menu sticks to pub staples: burgers, sandwiches, tacos, pizzas and salads. It also brings a few Midwestern dishes, cheese curds among them. Joshi said the beer list will run past 100 taps. He also said the group plans to use those taps to show off Virginia beer.
"We know that Virginia is famous for microbrewing, and so this will give us an opportunity to showcase more local stuff here."
The Midlothian restaurant will be the eighth Barrel House. The chain was founded in Iowa in 2011, and most of its locations are still there, with others in Illinois and Frisco, Texas. The franchisees include Joshi, Pooja Malu and Vakul Goel. Goel is also the local franchisee for the Celebree School preschool chain. Their agreement lets them open more Barrel House locations around Richmond, which Joshi said they hope to do. The owners told What Now DC why they picked this spot.
"We came across this location that's right in the center of that mall, and it could get us the audience that we were looking for."
The same pattern, a short drive up Robious
Rock N Roll Sushi opened in mid-July 2026 at 11458 Belvedere Vista Lane in the Shoppes at Belvedere, near Huguenot and Robious roads. Like Barrel House, it moved into a space that already had a kitchen. The 1,800-square-foot unit had been a Great Greek Mediterranean Grill.
Rock N Roll Sushi is also new to the Richmond market. The chain is based in Florida and calls itself an "American-style sushi restaurant" built around rock music. Electric guitars hang on the walls, music videos play on the TVs, and rolls carry names like the "British Invasion" and the "Rocked Lobster."
Local owners brought this one in too. The franchisees are Justin Jones and Chad Ellis, friends who both graduated from VCU. Jones works in tech consulting and real estate investing and also owns Jimmy John's franchises. He first saw a Rock N Roll Sushi in Georgia after a mutual friend suggested it. He said the pair looked across the Richmond region before choosing Belvedere. He also had a short description of the room: "This place gives me dive bar vibes. But it's clean and it's got the music."
So the two new restaurants closest to Stonehenge, at Stonehenge Village and the Shoppes at Belvedere, have the same profile. Each is an out-of-state brand opening its first Richmond-area location in a space where diners already ate.
The local shop that grew out of brewery pop-ups
The third arrival follows the same pattern from the other direction. It is a local business that started in other people's spaces and is now signing a lease of its own.
Retro Room plans to open in October 2026 at 10060 Robious Road in the Robious Hall shopping center, near where Robious Road meets Midlothian Turnpike. A July lease roundup lists the store at 1,050 square feet in Robious Hall. Husband and wife Luke and Nicole Baab own it. Luke started the business in 2018 as a subscription service that mailed boxes of hand-picked video games. Around 2022 it switched to pop-ups and swap meets, and Nicole said many of those pop-ups took place at local breweries.
Retro Room will buy, sell and trade games from the 1980s to now. Planned stock includes:
- Classic games for the NES and Nintendo 64
- Newer titles for the Xbox One and PlayStation 5
- Video game consoles and merchandise
- Pokémon cards
The Baabs chose this part of Chesterfield on purpose. "We both felt that the Midlothian and North Chesterfield area was a little bit underserved as it pertained to video games," Nicole Baab said. She described the store as a place where families can play together, the way kids in the '90s crowded into one room for Mario Kart or Sonic.
How the fall lines up
Put the three on one calendar and the timing tracks how much building each space needed:
- July 2026: Rock N Roll Sushi opened at the Shoppes at Belvedere in a restaurant space that was already finished.
- October 2026: Retro Room plans to open in a 1,050-square-foot retail unit at Robious Hall.
- December 2026: Barrel House is aiming to open at Stonehenge Village. The pub space there is getting a $600,000 renovation that was permitted Sept. 15.
The space that already suited its new tenant opened first. The space getting the biggest renovation is opening last. At Stonehenge Village, that renovation is going into a room that has been a pub since 2019, and Barrel House will be its third pub.
Heather Grubb spent years working through builder schedules and renovations, so a permit date and a hoped-for opening read to her as two separate milestones. If you live near Stonehenge and want to talk through how new businesses along Stone Village Way and Robious Road fit into your own plans, Heather Grubb would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
