A 1970s department store-themed cocktail lounge is set to open next week in the lower level of the former Klein Department Store in Highland Park.

The Highland Underground, which sports a retro look including vintage clothes on mannequins, is the concept of the folks at the Orvis Horatio Group, which is also behind Dough Co. Pizza, Des Moines Biergarten and Oktoberfest at Des Moines Biergarten.

Owners include brothers Alec and Evan Davis and Austin Baeth, a local doctor and state representative. The Davises and Baeth are school friends from back in the day. That connection led to the discovery that their families have a shared distant ancestor, Orvis Horatio, hence the name of their group.

Sam Hoyle, another owner in the group, said Orvis Horatio once lived not far from the Highland Park area.

But that was just an added bonus for the group that was eyeing Highland Park for its next business, Hoyle said.

“We knew what’s going on in Highland Park and the resurgence that’s been happening here, and we wanted to bring a project here,” he said. “Then this building was getting renovated and space became available, so it was very much place first and concept second.”

Hoyle said the neighborhood represents the “regeneration of Des Moines as a hub,” and is walkable with some density.

“Seeing the rebound it’s had in the last three or five years, we were like, ‘We can add to that as well,’” he said. “So that was very much our motivation. And then the family tie-in is obviously an added bonus.”

The renovation of the 120-year-old Klein Department Store at 3614 Sixth Ave. was the undertaking of Chloe and Tim Bratvold, operating as 36th on Sixth LLC, and resulted in the space for the Highland Underground, Highland Park Fitness and Nutrition on the ground floor and upper story apartments.

When you enter the building’s front doors, the Highland Underground is at the bottom of a wide staircase leading to the lower level. There is a mannequin dressed in a vintage outfit and the business’s logo to greet you as you enter the lounge.

“The idea is as you descend down the stairs, you’re walking back into time where the neighborhood was thriving like it is today again,” Hoyle said. “It’s kind of that nod to the past, but also very much bringing it to the present day.”

Upon entering, you might just feel like you’ve entered a time warp to the 1970s. From the furniture to the tables and the decor, everything screams 1970s. There’s even a turntable at the end of the bar with 1970s albums that customers can select to be played over the bar’s sound system, or they can bring in their own. The bar’s playlist? Music from the ’70s, of course.

Dressed mannequins are scattered throughout the bar — and yes, you can buy the clothes. Along one wall are what appear to be shop windows with dressed mannequins on display.

The furniture and decorations were sourced by Olio Oddities, Funky Finds and the Orvis Horatio Group owners scouring online marketplaces from across the Midwest, Hoyle said.

The 1970s clothing was provided by Divine Times Vintage, another business in Highland Park. Slingshot Architecture did the interior design work, while K. Johnson Construction built the space in the Klein building’s lower level.

Hoyle said the concept was to share a collective memory of what the department store was like during its heyday.

“We wanted a neighborhood hangout, but also a destination for people across the metro,” he said. “So we decided to build this narrative and story around bringing it back to the neighborhood’s heyday, and bring it back to the building’s history with a ’70s-themed cocktail bar.”

The only food menu items are cheese and chocolate fondue with a variety of items for dipping. Even the glassware used for the cocktails is vintage. Menus are designed to replicate old department store catalogs.

Hoyle described the work of sourcing everything in the bar as a “labor of love.”

“We wanted to be as authentic as possible,” he said.

In each booth is a wall phone that is hardwired to a phone in another booth.

“If you pick it up it will call a different phone,” Hoyle said. “The idea is to have serendipitous interaction and community-building. I want to encourage people to put their mobile phones away and have that interaction with other customers.”

There is also a hack that allows the phone to call the bar. It’s one of many surprises, or “Easter eggs,” that are hidden within the bar, Hoyle said.

Highland Underground has offered a series of soft openings to get customer feedback and train staff. It plans to open to the public on Oct. 15.

Hoyle, who is 39 years old, said he hopes Highland Underground will appeal to the nostalgia of those who grew up in the 1970s and remember shopping or working at Klein Department Store, but he also hopes to draw in the younger crowd who are shopping and eating at Highland Park’s other shops.

“Traffic’s really strong in this neighborhood, so we’re hoping we can lead the way to encourage more evening traffic,” Hoyle said. “We hope to complement what others in the neighborhood are doing.”