Bowling center

[Epidemic]

I live in an area with virtually no outlets for kids and adults with in a 20 mile radius.

I have toyed with opening some sort of family recreation center as my escape from corporate america.

After dabbling over some ideas I have finally settled on a bowling alley of between 10 and 20 lanes.

It would appear that the theoretical cost per lane is something on the order of 200,000 dollars loaded with land building and equipment.

I live in a bedroom community in what was formerly the sticks but is growing like a weed. With 2,000 new builds on houses with fairly young people with young families.

currently there is no form of entertainment and I feel a nice bowling center with a game room, pool tables, and burger grill might do well.

Has anyone ever run the numbers on such a beast and does anyone have any idea of the theoretical population which is typically penetrated by a bowling center to assist me in deciding facillity size and intial investment.

What considerations do you think I would need to take into account.

One real bummer is I think that the bible thumpers might keep the establishment dry but I am not sure about that.

[The Real Bingo]

We have a 12 laner here, and a 48 laner about 8 miles from this one. It all depends in the proximity to the nearest bowling alley around. If there's nothing within 20-30 miles or so, more lanes would be needed, I think. Also, of course, it depends on the population of the town. A number between 10 and 20 would be either 12 or 18. Normally bowling alleys have 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, etc. Bowling is a cool sport, and seems to becoming more popular amongst the youngens like myself and is also very popular with older people who join leagues, so it may benefit you to go with 18 or even 24 lanes.

Good luck.

[ZENYO]

What do bible thumpers have against bowling?

(sorry, I know that's not the point of your thread. Just curious)

Al

[Epidemic]

Population is a concern as the town is not done growing. If I build it small I will need to allow for growth. there is a 48 lane bowlin alley approximately 20 miles north, 20 laner east 30 miles and one south about 50 miles. Population is about 10,000 people with an additional 2000 new builds scheduled short order. Schools are growing like a weed I think a safe guess would be between 15 and 20k people with in the next 5 years.

I have never owned a business as said before but I feel that my management skills, coupled with mechanical ability, and my large family of slave labor in my children will make a good go of it

[Epidemic]

bible thumpers seem to be trying to keep the area dry (aka no liquor, beer ...)

I am not even sure if I could attract the people who currently commute to their bowling alleys with out a little booze. It would be a concern. In alot of ways I would not mind if it were dry but that will take more research.

[RedFury]

Interesting idea Epi.....could be quite the cash cow too, especially if you are in an area that grows. We've got quite a few alleys around, and they all do well....as long as they are easily recognized, and not dumpy looking ( we have a few that look like they are just barely making a living ).

I think it would be a matter of how big you can make it now, plus how much you can add on as interest grows. You want to make it kid friendly, but need to draw the adults too.

2 local establishments that do very well around here each have bars/restaurants attached to them. Having an area that a person could drop the kids ( smaller ) off at with a paid attendant would help bring in the younger parents who need cheap entertainment, but have a hard time gettting out because of the toddlers.

If it were me, I would probably have to find someone with practical experience in my area ( someone who's built a few bowling alleys before ) and feed off their brains for a good feel as to what you need to allow for, expansion-wise.

Adding lanes is probably going to be harder than adding a bar, restaurant, or arcade, so I'd stick with the basics first, and see what kind of profit you can pull, plus find out what the community really wants to have available.

[The Real Bingo]

Oh, that reminds me. An alley went up around here not too long ago, and its booming. Not only because one bowling game is about $5 [and people pay that outrageous price], but because they have an arcade, resturaunt/bar/lounge, and laser tag. Need other stuff besides bowling to draw in the crowd.

[Epidemic]

I was trying to figure out a basic formula to guestimate how much utilization I would need to accomidate. Still have not found a resource to help me there.

20,000 people
25% bowlers once a week

5000 potential patrons

that kind of thing. I am not sure what percentage to put in there nor how to calculate random events like rug monkeys and their weekend bowling parties... and whim bowlers.

If that 5000 number is real (i doubt it) how many lanes would you need to accomidate them.

In reality most of them would probably come during a few hour period weekdays and weekends. most of the rest of the time would be onsies and twosies. with most lanes gathering dust.

But thinking on the lines of 5000 people 1 night with 3 games a week there is a pretty penny two work with. Course the regulars wont rent nothing

Lotso stuff to think about.

I am still trying to pull 2000 census Block data for the local area. and plot it out in mapinfo.

[The Real Bingo]

Id say 24-32 lanes.

[Epidemic]

Bingo, I agree with wanting to draw from all ilks with lots of stuff to do. But there are limits on how much capital to risk initially.

If I have my way and go through with this I would probably build a bigger building than needed to handle the intitial size. I think no matter what I would build the building to handle 20 lanes even if I only finished half of it.