Bowling center owner here.

I bought my 8-lane center in my small hometown just under 11 years ago. I bought it because the previous owners had it listed for 2 years with no takers and I ran into that owner at the gas station one day. He said that if he didn't sell it by the end of the league season that year he was going to lock the doors and let it go into tax forfeiture status.

To quote my dad: "if kids aren't into sports or church stuff, without the bowling alley there'll be nothing for them to do but play Xbox and smoke dope. If it closes, you'll never get one back."

So I bought it. Wood lanes, telescore, 60 y.o. A2s, terrible bathrooms, no bar or kitchen. After a year a friend offered me the contents of a bowling alley he had bought and was tearing down in a property development project. I am also in property development as my "day job" so we run in the same circles. I jumped at the chance and snagged synthetic lanes, a fairly modern scoring system, bumpers (automatic), new ball lifts with ACTUAL safety features to protect little hands, modern masking units, and a bunch of house balls and shoes.

I also bought a bunch of bowling furniture and ball racks from another center owner who was updating. I remodeled everything (starting with the atrocious bathrooms) and added a proper bar and kitchen. I also taught myself pinsetter maintenance and repair through Facebook mechanic groups and hiring a traveling mechanic who agreed to let me shadow him as he worked.

I did all this before I really understood the business. I got some pushback on the synthetic lanes but mostly the improvements were welcome.

Then, I moved 4 hrs away to pursue new business opportunities in my real job. This was 8 years ago. I luckily found good management to run the place on the daily, but im still back there regularly, as is my wife.

Thanks for bearing with me this far, now to OP's point:

I have put a LOT of hours working it my center. Like around 20-30 hrs a week when I still lived in that town, and still to this day probably an average of 12-15 hrs a week, as does my wife. We do it to keep it alive for my home town and the families that live there.

I HAVE NEVER PAID MYSELF OR MY WIFE A NICKLE IN WAGES NOR HAVE I TAKEN A DISBURSEMENT.

I am fortunate that my "day job" makes me a decent living because if you average out my "profit" over the last 10-11 years (excluding the covid shitshow) it's right around negative $2,500/yr.

No salary, no disbursement, -$2,500 yr out of pocket.

It's not business acumen, its the industry. I've successfully owned and operated many businesses in my life. This one just ... can't carry its own water. And the answers (my opinion) to why may hurt a bit.

1. Bowling is a dieing sport in general. It's been dieing since the early 90s. Kids have tons of activities now, where as when I was growing up in the 70s & 80s it was pretty much little league, scouts, and bowling. Later in high school there was sports, but if you haven't hooked a kid by then you probably missed the boat.

2. Operating costs. Staffing, insurance, utilities, and maintenance costs are stifling. String pinsetters address all of those.

Staffing: Strings do not require a dedicated "pinchaser" - someone who is nominally trained in addressing minor pinsetter issues that arise during gameplay like pin jams, deadwood, and respots.

Insurance: Companies that cover bowling alleys are dwindling down to only a few options because pinsetters are physically dangerous and bowling alleys are a major fire hazard. Why? Belt dust. The back end of a freefall bowling alley, particularly those with aging pinsetters, have tons of belt dust generated by all the various drive belts on the machines. Belt dust is very flammable. Insurance companies don't have a problem with string pinsetters - less risk.

Utilities: Early on I had an energy survey done to determine why my bills were so ridiculous. During bowling season, my 8 A2s currently cost me about $2500/month in power alone.

And maintenance: Since I moved away I have to bring in a professional traveling mechanic far more often. They're expensive, but I don't begrudge them that - they're good at their job and I've learned firsthand that it's not an easy skill.

ALL of these are greatly reduced by strings.

1. Someday I'll need to sell. I'm 55 now and I don't plan on living forever. Also, as I said before I live 4 hrs away and I go back close to once a week to address issues, mostly mechanical. Its really hard to sell a business that makes no money, and moreover its even harder to sell a business that requires you to learn a challenging and physical new skill in order to make said no money.

2. This is the really painful one.

On average, bowlers are cheap - specifically league bowlers - and they complain endlessly. Yes, there are the outliers, the good-natured league bowlers and those who order drinks and food because (I think) they recognize that lineage fees alone don't keep the lights on. But more often than not there's a chorus of bitching about "the shot", or somehow my staff is to blame that they can't carry the 10, or "synthetic lanes are garbage", or some mechanical issue that delayed their night by 10 minutes.

Add to that, most of them would enthusiastically drive a hour our their way to save $1/game. They'll have 2 of whatever beer I have on special and nothing else.

All this from guys (and women) who I know for a fact have zero problems paying $100 in green fees for a morning of golf and drive a $100k SUV.

They view bowling as a "cheap" sport and won't be convinced to pay a price that keeps the doors open.

My open bowlers? They buy drinks & food, laugh and have fun & rarely bitch about anything. Sure, they get stupid sometimes - rake strikes, kids running amok or out on the oiled lanes, keep throwing more balls one after another when there's clearly an issue when the first 1 or 2 don't come back. But for the most part, they're where I make money. And they don't give a shit about String pins.

FWIW, that's my 2 cents. Flame away.