Tough times for bowling centers

With 75 on staff, Stars Recreation Center had been one of the larger employers among the roughly 200 California bowling centers. That was before the state rolled out rules 10 months ago for which businesses could operate during the coronavirus pandemic.

And now only five work at the Vacaville facility as it waits for permission to reopen.

“We in Solano had a three-week period in June when we were allowed to reopen,” said second-generation owner Ken Sousa. His family in the 1950s started Napa Bowling Center, owned by cousin Dan Sousa, and opened Stars 21 years ago. The ethic was to own the facilities to keep the occupancy cost low, so monthly mortgage payments are “reasonable.”

“But when nothing is coming in, nothing is reasonable,” Ken Sousa said.

The business secured a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan for the short time the center was allowed to open and has pursued loan forgiveness.

Now the facility’s big sports bar, banquet rooms and birthday parlor are empty. Billiard tables aren’t bustling upstairs, and the adjoining concert floor hasn’t hosted a band in nearly a year.

That’s a familiar story Jim Decker, owner of Double Decker Lanes in Rohnert Park, has heard from a number of the nearly 4,000 members of the Bowling Proprietors of America, a trade group for which he’s currently president.

California and New Mexico are the only states left in the U.S. that haven’t permitted bowling centers to open to any great degree. Largely because of the rising cost of real estate, bowling centers have dwindled in California from 250 two decades ago, and roughly a half-dozen have shuttered for good during the pandemic, he said.

“After being shut down for three months, we geared up to reopen, hiring back employees and contacting league bowlers and installing protective equipment, and then three weeks later we were told to shut down,” Decker said. From a staff of 32, only two are employed now at the 40,000-square-foot facility.

On Jan. 25, California moved back to the state’s four-tier reopening system after a monthlong shelter-at-home order, and the six North Bay counties are now with 91% of the state population in the purple, highest-risk tier virus transmission. But bowling alleys won’t be able to start reopening until their counties move up two tiers into orange. Then they will be able to open at 25% occupancy, increasing to 50% in the yellow, lowest-risk tier.

Some California bowling centers have tried to get creative to stay open in the pandemic. The Sousa family has tried to host leagues in small private meetings and considered installing exercise equipment to qualify as a gym, when indoor training was still allowed. However, they heard from Solano and Napa county officials that such operations are still not allowed.

Yet in a baffling regulatory twist, pro shops in bowling centers can still operate because they are classified as sporting goods retailers, selling balls, wear and gear to league and avid players. Gene Bruihl still operates Gene’s Pro Shop inside Stars by himself five days a week, even while the lanes are dark to the public. He’s done 5% of his normal business since March.

“It’s like saying you can sell gas but no cars are allowed,” Bruihl said.

The bowling trade group has hired a lobbyist to petition Sacramento to treat the venues like indoor dining, allowing the centers 25% capacity in the next tier — red, according to Decker. And the association has pursued litigation against the state, hiring an epidemiologist to document the risk of virus spread in previous use and under protective measures such as clear plastic barriers, alternating empty lanes, ball sanitizers and removal of lounge furniture in the common areas. Decker said he spent over $10,000 on those measures at his facility.

“How can you do a study when you’re not open?” Decker asked.