New downtown bar aims to end ‘FOMO’ with endless entertainment opportunities

Sheron Colbert
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 00:12:26 +0000
Arts & Life, food & drink, Instagram Page, News, bar, Columbus, columbus lounge, downtown, downtown bar, drinks, fomo, fomo bar, food trucks, halloween, karaoke, lantern, Ohio, ohio state, ohio state lantern, ohio state university, technology driven, The Lantern

FOMO, a new Columbus bar, is set to open Halloween weekend. Credit: Ris Twigg | Lantern File Photo

For those who aren’t into barhopping, FOMO has you covered, with the experience of multiple venues in one location.

Set to open in Columbus Halloween weekend at 165 Fifth St., FOMO — an acronym for “fear of missing out” — will offer a new and immersive experience to customers by providing a variety of activities to keep them entertained and never missing out, FOMO’s Creative Director Brandon Adams said.

“We have several different spaces within our 9,000-square-foot facility that allow you to drink in one area, dance in one area, karaoke in another area or smoke hookah,” Adams said. “So, we’re just trying to give an environment that is diversified and more than just your everyday night out.”

Adams said the inspiration for the bar comes from the common experience of being away from your friends, feeling as though you might be missing out on something important.

“The fear of missing out idea came from getting FOMO when you’re looking at social media or you’re on your phone,” Adams said. “You’re somewhere that your friends are not, and you want to be there.”

Adams said he feels the going-out culture in Columbus is active and said he plans to provide people a reason to stay at FOMO for more than just drinks.

“I personally feel like Columbus is very barhopping-oriented. They don’t have any spaces that people want to go and stay or encourage people to stay any longer than just receiving a drink,” Adams said.

Adams said FOMO aims to create an environment that feels like a social lounge and not necessarily a nightclub.

“We are going for a very bold, energetic, vacation-vibe environment. Very social media driven and technology driven, which a lot of bars don’t have,” Adams said. “I wouldn’t necessarily coin us as a nightclub, but a social lounge.”

Adams said the technology-driven approach includes tablets people can enter their names into for karaoke, and they hope to become a staple bar for large sporting events.

“When there are large sporting events, we’ll have them on. We’re right down the street from Ohio State, right down the street from the soccer stadium,” Adams said. “So, of course, we’ll be playing live events. We have LED screens on the walls, televisions and projection. So, plenty of visual things to stay current in what’s happening.”

Although FOMO does not plan on serving in-house food, Austin Lucas-Mattox, who handles the finances and legality for FOMO, said food trucks will be available.

“It’s just what kind of works for us right now as of this moment,” Lucas-Mattox said. ”When taking into consideration cost and benefit and all that, just kind of worked out better to bring in food trucks than it did to have a kitchen on site.”

Lucas-Mattox said FOMO also has a variety of spaces that will be available for booking private events.

For updates on opening and more, FOMO can be found on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or directly on FOMO’s website.