Kearney can certainly put his finger on why.
“The economy has hurt a lot in recent years,” he said. “We’ve managed to survive, but it’s not like it used to be.
“When I first got into the business, bowling was as big as any sport,” Kearney continued. “We’d just take names and phone numbers and put people on a waiting list for leagues. It was that way for my first 10-15 years in the business.”
But those were the good old days.
“The problem right now is that we’ve got so much unemployment here,” said Kearney. “When I came up here, we had the Navistar situation. They had 5,000 people working then. If you go by the plant right now, you’re lucky to see 200-300 cars. That hurts any area.”
It has forced folks to reorder their priorities.
“It’s the entertainment dollar and everybody is fighting for that dollar,” said Kearney. “People have to do something, but I’d think entertainment is the last thing on their budget. House and car payments always come first.
“There are so many darn things going now to compete with.”
Kearney says no one locally is escaping the economic crunch.
“No center in the city is where it was 10 years ago, or even five years ago,” he said. “Nobody is making money like they did a few years ago.”
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. To combat the negative trend, bowling alleys are becoming bowling centers, attempting to lure in families and youth. And for many, this summer has been a boon.
Northridge has a “Say No To Drugs, Say Yes To Bowling” program that has deep discounts for youth. Poelking Century Lanes in New Carlisle and Victory Lanes and Shamrock Recreation in Springfield have allowed kids to bowl two free games per day this summer.
In fact, Century Lanes manager Rick Borns is not buying into the woeful forecast the bowling industry has recently put out.
“I keep hearing the doom and gloom on talk radio, but I’m not really seeing it,” said Borns, who then added with a half-chuckle, “except in my own wallet.”
Seriously, Borns is downright excited about this summer’s business.
“This summer has been phenomenal,” he said. “We had 750 kids register (for the free bowling program). Our (Poelking’s) first full month here (as owners) was July last year, so that’s all I have to go by year-to-year. But we are way up over last year. We didn’t have summer leagues last year and this year, we had 56 summer bowlers.”
Giving away free games of bowling might not seem like good business on the surface, but it is.
“First of all, you’d have no one in there if you didn’t have it,” said Borns. “And they pay for their shoes, so we’ll average $1.25 per game. Plus people have the perception, ‘I’m bowling for free.’ So they are more willing to buy pizza and drinks.
“And I’ve got kids signed up for the fall youth leagues from the summer program. Our owners are telling us that at the Huber Heights location, it has been the best summer by far they’ve ever had.”
Victory Lanes manager Demetri Zavakos is encouraged that over 2,200 participated in his free summer youth bowling program. But that doesn’t do enough to change the overall picture.
“It gets a little bit tougher every day,” said Zavakos. “We’re always looking for ways to generate more business.”
Zavakos pinpointed what he thought started the downward trend.
“The young kids of the 80s, we missed out on a generation because we had no open bowling because there was no time for open bowling because of leagues,” he said. “You were either in a league or you didn’t bowl.”
Now open bowling could be the key to survival.
“You are definitely seeing a push towards open bowling,” said Borns. “It used to be a 70-percent to 30-percent league-to-open ratio, but over the years it has slowly shifted to where many centers have seen more open bowling than league bowling.”
Added Zavakos: “League bowling has been dropping for 15 years now. It has a lot to do with time. The dollar is important, but time is also a very important. That’s why we run a lot of short leagues.”
Added Borns: “We’re not really reinventing the way we do things, but hitting different angles.”
Still, the tide looks imposing.
“Bowling’s been declining, but you really have to be into marketing and advertising,” Zavakos said. “I use Twitter, Facebook, any form I can to advertise and get people into it. It’s about business and about people in general. Business comes, but business comes because you relate.”
Is this the beginning of a brighter future for local bowling centers?
“I think the key is the proprietors realizing they have to make it affordable to get folks to come in,” said Borns. “People have always said bowling is a recession-proof business, and it is starting to look that way.”
Champaign County centers are feeling the crunch even more.
“The last couple of years, I’d say we have lost primarily because we’ve lost three major factories,” said Phil Baker, owner of Southwest Bowl in Urbana. “That has impact on my leagues.
“High school bowling is growing rapidly, though. And hopefully the new college bowling program (at Urbana University, of which he is the head coach) will stimulate some bowlers to stay with it.”
Added Bob Williams of Coral Lanes in St. Paris: “We’ve had a lot of layoffs in our area, and that hurts. People still bowl; you just don’t see them as often as you used to.
“The families who have kids, they are just busier. It is hard to get them to commit to a 36-week grind.”
Matt Mayberry, owner of Goshen Lanes in Mechanicsburg, says even the statewide smoking ban has hurt.
“The smoking ban, when that went into effect, that dropped us a few people,” Mayberry said. “For years, people would say they’d come if there wasn’t all that smoke. Where are they? If I’d guess, I’d say we were down 5-10 percent in the winter months.”
Right now, all the centers are hoping for is to stay profitable.
“As long as we are in the black, we’re happy,” said Kearney. “Even if we stay steady, that’s OK. But we can’t lose any more business. We have to maintain what we’ve got and add to it a little bit.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0364 or krowe@coxohio.com.
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