This is an open letter to the owner of Spins Bowl Kent in New York. I have emailed them this letter. I tried to get the facts straight before sending this to them. Renovations are scheduled to start in June :(
Here is what I said -
I am a mother of a youth bowler. We left our nearest bowling alley to come to Spins Bowl Kent for the coaching, competition, and atmosphere. The employees here are bowlers themselves which is a great thing for us parents. They are always friendly, helpful, and polite. They understand our point of view in trying to raise outstanding bowlers in our county.
Today I learned that significant changes are coming to Spins Bowl Kent. The alley will be losing 8 lanes due to expansion of the game room. Here in this area the game room gets very little use at all as people come here to bowl. It would be advantageous for you to purchase and renovate either the old Damon’s restaurant building, which is down the road from the alley and located near a pediatrician’s office or the former Kent State Golf Course which has plenty of land for you to expand upon. You could create a place for college students to hang out exclusively similar to the company Dave and Buster’s. We do not have one of them in the area and the closest one I know of is just outside of Cleveland.
As for removing the wall with everyone’s high score upon it, I find that disappointing as it is in a high-traffic location in the alley and everyone can see it. To remove all the lockers and place them in one room, which is currently the check-in room for tournaments and meeting room for the Portage County Bowling Association, is also disappointing. My daughter is 15 years old and is a youth board member. To have her go sit in a bar with other kids on the youth board for a meeting is not going to sit well with parents. Are all the TVs in the bar area going to put on mute so the board can discuss issues? I don’t think that will go over well with sports fans and bar patrons.
I have signed my daughter for Kids Bowl Free for the last several years. When I signed her up recently, the rules had changed on who could bowl for free. I thought it was change of rules put out by the sponsors of Kids Bowl Free. Today I learned those rules were established by Spins Bowl. There is a bowling alley competitor is accepting kids 18 and younger every day of the week for their Kids Bowl Free program. I am going to change my registration to that bowling alley, Kent Lanes, for my daughter to practice at before she competes in the upcoming Junior Gold tournament in Dallas this summer.
I am hoping you read this email and give your upcoming renovations serious thought about what you are going to do to this respected bowling alley. I am saddened by the changes you intend to impose. We have left one bowling alley before and are not looking forward to leaving this one because of Spins Bowl corporate management.
Please reconsider your renovations of Spins Bowl Kent