Beards & Broads set to open second Broadway location

By Manuel E. Hernandez Last updated Aug 15, 2022

BROADWAY, Va. (WHSV) – The town of Broadway will welcome a new business on Saturday. Beards and Broads Ax Throwing is about to open a second location in the city.

“I grew up here, graduated from Broadway in 1999 and we just wanted to bring something fun to the community. We wanted to give people a place to hang out and be entertained, eat good food and have things to do,” said Jay Roderick, co-owner of Beards & Broads.

Roderick and his brother-in-law Kyle McQuillan are co-owners of Beards & Broads. They considered opening the original Beards & Broads location on Broadway three years ago, but it didn’t work out and they opted for a location in Harrisonburg.

“Now we have a few years of experience under our belt, we’re pretty well connected in the community and now we’re finally coming back to this hometown,” McQuillian said.

Three years later, Broadway is delighted to welcome them.

“When you have a business like this, a restaurant like this that’s diverse and offers so much, I think it really adds to the city and really adds to the community, so we’re really excited about that,” said Broadway Town Manager Kyle O. ‘Brien.

Broadway has welcomed a number of new businesses to the city over the past year and O’Brien said Beards & Broads will help attract even more people to the city and its other businesses.

“We feel like we’re on the cusp of a lot of really exciting things with the trail coming to Broadway and so many other economic development initiatives. So we’re very excited to have this new business and restaurant coming to town,” he said.

Beards & Broads’ new location on Broadway is significantly larger than the original in Harrisonburg and will offer even more to customers. It is complete with a bar and a large pizza oven.

“Axe throwing is our main activity, but we have other tabletop games. We’ve got tons of beer and wine, we’ve got great food, we’re going to have live music, and eventually we’re going to expand this space and make it bigger. We want to hire local people, entertain local people and give back to the community,” Roderick said.

Roderick said that for those interested in organized ax throwing competitions, the Harrisonburg site will remain the venue for World Ax Throwing League competitions.

Both McQuillian and Roderick are veterans, and Beards & Broads is closely associated with the Living Waters Freedom Initiative. The owners are also committed to supporting local first responders.

“We support all of our local heroes. We’re having a private event tonight just to bring in local Broadway heroes. The Broadway Fire Department, Broadway Police and Broadway Rescue Team will be there and we will feed them for free,” Roderick said.

For Kyle McQuillan, the best part about running Beards & Broads is that ax throwing is all about technique, so it’s something everyone can enjoy.

“We’ve had six or seven-year-olds pitching with their parents in the store. We’ve had up to 90 and we’ve had people with disabilities, like being in a wheelchair. Believe it or not, a few people from a local school for the blind came out to launch what was both unique and amazing,” he said.

The grand opening of the Broadway location is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m.