Indoor pickleball chain expanding to Vegas

Utah-based Picklr, which develops indoor pickleball courts, has seven locations planned in Nevada, with five in Clark County, as part of a larger national expansion.

Chris Wood, who owns the Las Vegas Picklr franchise locations with Shawn Hassett, said the first facility will be in Henderson as a lease is close to being signed. The target date for opening is July, just in time for players to beat the summer heat.

Each Picklr location will be between 25,000 and 35,000 square feet and have at least 10 pickleball courts, a pro shop, lockers and a common space where people can gather, Wood said.

Wood became the owner for the Las Vegas Picklr franchises after spending over 15 years in the property management industry working with homeowners associations. He said he wanted to own a business and becoming a Picklr franchisee allowed him to pursue his business goals and his passion for pickleball which he started playing about two years ago with a group of friends.

Wood said he is confident that there will be enough demand for five Picklr locations since he and his friends have experienced a shortage of pickleball courts in the Las Vegas area.

“One of the challenges that we had was finding places to play when we would want to play and got a group of eight or 12 guys together,” Wood said. “It was really difficult to find courts, especially when the weather was good and when the weather was bad, you really didn’t want to be outside playing.”

Local government officials in Southern Nevada have said they are trying to expand the current amount of pickleball courts in public spaces but that process can be difficult as there are noise concerns associated with outdoor courts.

Wood said he wants to place Picklr locations throughout the Las Vegas Valley and have them close to the 215 Beltway to make courts easily accessible to residents across the valley. He said there isn’t a strict development plan for opening all five locations but would like to open a new location about six to eight months after the first one opens, meaning the second location could open in 2025.

The Picklr locations will be able to accommodate community events, pickleball clubs, tournaments and people taking pickleball lessons, he said.

As part of its national expansion, Picklr expects to have 154 new locations across 23 states, with more than 1,800 pickleball courts in the next few years, the company said.

Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on X.