VALLEY BOWLING CENTER OWNER THRILLED TO BE RE-OPENING MONDAY, BUT KNOWS GUIDELINES WILL HAVE IMPACT (2 PHOTOS) (2020-08-16)
By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports ReportWAVERLY - Valley Bowling Center proprietor Greg Joseph is thrilled to be re-opening Monday, but he knows the prospects of starting up at 50-percent capacity (or less), along with other guidelines will have an impact on business.
Joseph said New York State will likely release its re-opening guidelines later today or Monday, and he doesn't know what to expect.
"We don't know exactly what we're going to have to do to open," said Joseph. "The proprietors are waiting with baited breath to see what these protocols are, and we're very nervous about it, because it effects us so dramatically.
"There's been talk of using every other lane, but our hope is to have 50-percent capacity of our occupancy, which means we can put half our occupancy number in our building any way we want, as long as they are socially distanced from table to table, and while bowling.
"That's my hope," noted Joseph. "We have a big concourse, and we can fit a lot of people in here. With our set-up and our size, we think we can safely have a full house of bowlers.
"The government and the governor don't understand bowling, so they don't get it. They don't want that many people in one place ... every other lane is half-a-house, let's start there," continued Joseph. "If that's one of the requirements, and it may be, we're hoping it's only temporary. The problem is, we don't know. No one knows."
The big question for Joseph, especially in our area, is the requirement to wear a mask going to have an impact on the number of bowlers participating in league bowling this year?
"It may, but I think it all comes down to their love of the game," he said. "I've had several people tell me, they'll wear masks to bowl because no one is going to take away their sport.
"And as of this moment, I don't even know what the protocol will be," noted Joseph. "I'm sure people will have to wear a mask to enter the building until they are seated.
"Once they are seated, I'm hoping it will be loosened. If there are food and beverages at the table, you can't be expected to wear them all the time," he added.
Joseph said the difference between a 50-percent occupancy rule, and being forced to use every other lane will have a big impact on league bowling.
"If the state allows one-half occupancy, we will not have to do shifts. We will fit easily.
"If it's every other lane, four days of the week here, we will have to do two shifts to get everybody in," said Joseph. "Or, come up with some type of staggered way of doing things.
"For example, we have a 32-team NFL league Sunday mornings at 10:30. We're going to have to break that into two shifts - 16 will bowl at 9 and 16 will bowl at 11.
"Our day leagues and senior leagues, we can spread them out, and it won't really effect them most of the time," noted Joseph.
"My concern is for the bigger centers that have 3 or 4 thousand league bowlers and are full wall-to-wall every league. What do they do?" he added.
It will also impact the bowling center in other ways as well, said Joseph.
"It effects us in a lot of ways, if we're only allowed to use every other lane. We've had rock-and-bowls that are 32 lanes full. Now I could only have 16, so we don't want this to last too long.
"When I open Monday, I only have 16 lanes to use, so I have to turn that over a lot of times to make money," noted Joseph. "In the long run, we will not survive at 50-percent occupancy. Most bowling centers cannot survive at 50 percent - it just won't happen.
"It's a numbers game, bowling centers have to have everything they've got at their disposal to survive," he continued.
"We're hoping this is temporary, that we're given stringent measures to start, and once it's shown the virus isn't spreading those will be relaxed," added Joseph. "The good news is across the nation, 47 other states are open for bowling and they've had no big increase in infection rates, and they've bowled all summer. Summer is not real busy for us, but in other parts of the country, they're just as busy in the summer as they are in the winter."
Joseph was caught a bit off-guard by the rapidity of the re-opening.
"We weren't sure when we would re-open. We fought, and fought, and fought, then Friday they hit us with it ... BAM, you can open Monday.
"I'm not complaining, but there are some things we need to do before we can open," said Joseph. "It's a mad scramble.
"We're having an employee meeting Sunday to discuss protocols, and bringing people back off unemployment isn't the quickest and easiest thing to do either.
"I knew I was ready to open, but I didn't know it would be two days later," laughed Joseph. "I thought I'd have a little more time."
Joseph said five months of lost revenues as the result of being closed from March 16 through Aug. 17 was "pretty devastating."
"We lost all our open play, all the tournaments, all of the fund-raisers, birthday parties, rock-and-bowl we had scheduled in March and April," he said. "And, we lost all of our summer league because we were closed.
"It was pretty devastating.
"The fact the government offered some help for small businesses helped me get through the summer," noted Joseph. "Their continued assistance will help bowling centers survive, just like any other industry that's been hit this hard.
"It's tough to be closed for five months, and survive, but we're still here, and we're moving forward," he added.
Joseph also notes it could have been worse.
"If it would have happened April 16th, instead of March 16th, it would have been a lot better for us," he said. "March is our busiest month of the year. Unfortunately, the losses from March 16 to the beginning of May were huge.
"But, if this would have happened in October, the losses would have been devastating. more devastating than it was - probably insurmountable," Joseph added.
Since March 16, Joseph has donned an apron, and spent the vast majority of his time in the Valley Bowling Center kitchen.
"We were able to spend a lot of time on food and beverage during that time, and do some menu work," he said. "We now have a "Rail Side" food ordering system that was not perfected until this, so we're very happy that we're better able to serve food to the community now.
"The outpouring of support from the bowlers, and the community was unbelievable," noted Joseph. "We had people ordering our food every single weekend, and many still are.
"Partially I'd say because the food is pretty good," he said with a smile. "And, partially because they were trying to help because they knew we needed whatever help we could get to survive.
"People have been so generous and respectful," added Joseph. "They understood how hard it is."
Joseph is also grateful that students will return to school in the fall, but isn't exactly sure what to expect in terms of his business.
"We are big hub for high school bowling," he said. "It's a big part of my business.
"We are concerned about New York State even having a high school bowling season, number one.
"Number two, we have phys-ed classes here, field trips here, and have birthday parties with school-aged kids here," added Joseph. "For those reasons, and for the safety of the students and the teachers, I'm hoping the protocols put in place keep everyone safe, and we don't have any outbreaks in the schools that would cause more (lockdowns)."
And then, there is the question as to why bowling centers were one of the last places allowed to re-open by the governor.
"I think it's a couple things," said Joseph.
"Governor Cuomo made a comment about people putting their fingers in other people's bowling balls, and how can you prevent that?
"Some centers are using UV, we're going to have gloves available to try the ball out. And, we have a disinfectant station that anyone can use," he noted. "Now understand, two-third, and possibly more, of our customers have their own bowling balls, so they get to disinfect their own.
"The other thing is congregating," continued Joseph. "I think the governor has seen, especially in New York City bars and other parts of the country that bars - and we have a bar in our bowling center - have been a source for people to gather and have fun, and possibly spread the virus.
"We're going to have to grind through this - our customers, our employees, and the bowling business.
"Our industry as a whole, employees and bowling center operators know how serious this is, and our lives are really on the line, making sure people follow protocols," added Joseph. "The customers will have to understand we're not doing things to be mean, we're doing things to make it better in the future - that we don't have to worry about things like Corona virus down the road."
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IN PHOTO: Greg Joseph.
