Not a pro shop owner, but very close to one. At a 44 lane bowling alley and with a clientele that he has had some of for about 20+ years, he claimed to profit $140K in one calender year. He was selling the shop (plus stock and equipment) and asked $140K, and he said at that price, I would make back my investment within one year.

 

Not sure if this helps. he also only had one employee on a very short work schedule, but the owner does most of the work himself.

 

Edited by bigearv14 on 11/12/2011 at 7:32 AM

Im wanting to do the same thing as you. I prefer being inside the bowling alley for exposure and if you have survived being a stand-alone shop outside of a bowling alley, then you'll do better inside. Also depends on how good you are with people, drilling, price points, and getting something extra inside the alley that the league bowlers arent used to, like the DemoDays, etc. My buddy opened a shop inside an alley for 25k and the first 3 yrs i heard was clearing 45-50k profit. Also watch what they charge as far as rent and how it compares to what your paying now and find out what their league base is as amt of league bowlers cause that is what you should be targeting. Youll have your occasional open play people come in but from my experience if you take care of your league bowlers, they will stay loyal to you and keep your business afloat.

 

 

ITS NEVER THE BALL OR THE LANES FAULT, ITS OPERATOR ERROR.

Why don't you start out keeping your regular job and doing the pro shop in the evenings and on weekends?  That would take most of your time, but at the end of the first year you'd know what to do.  --  JohmP 

How are you already a stand alone shop? Drilling out of basement/garage or are you in a strip mall or something as of now?

 

What improvements will you need to invest in the space the center is offering? We had start up expenses such as carpet/paint and especially retail display items that most might overlook. Think that part through carefully...it can be costly to make the shop look nice. And in my opinion this is an important part.

 

Do you have all the tools necessary to do a truly professional job? It is hard to make a real go at things unless your quality is top notch. Even then it isn't easy.

 

Most important is to go to the center and look at their records on leagues. How many leagues? What has been the attrition rate over the last 2-5 years? (individual bowlers as well as leagues) How many of them are sanctioned vs. recreational? Decent competitiveness and money vs. beer drinking types. Sanctioned competitive league bowling is going to be the majority of your sales....the rest is pretty much a one time sales.

 

You are looking at getting into a very tight market in pretty tight times. If the center is in Saginaw I was working up there this summer and noticed that the two centers I saw were giving games out at 99 cents. Even in the summer that tells me business is slow. The owners of my center have 4 others and are constantly looking at ones going out of business...there are quite a few even down here in Metro Detroit that are just bleeding bowlers and revenue.

 

Hit me up in a pm if you want more info Adam. Theres alot more stuff I could give you some hints on that I would rather not share in an open forum. I will help you out as much as possible.

 

On edit: definitely keep your day job for the first year if you can swing it. My brother and I have done this and split the shop duties and it has worked out ok so far. We have one guy that helps us out when overtime hits or we get real busy.

ALL STAR BOWLING & TROPHY
LANGAN'S ALL STAR LANES
IBPSIA MEMBER
WALLED LAKE MI

 

Edited by completebowler on 11/12/2011 at 4:57 PM

 

 

 

I have a friend who runs a packed pro shop and I don't think he nets that much!!  AT all.

 

I also have friends in ones where the centers are dying and they are soon going to be out of work with all other centers with proshop guys filled.

 

As an outsider I can't imagine a much worse business in MANY towns!  Often rents, heat, small margins.  Lots of work.  Often an employee needed to do all of the plugging and prep before drilling to keep up with the volume and the center ball damage(often a requirement of the shop rent).

 

Especially if you like to bowl tournaments and work on your own game.....

 

Regards,

 

Luckylefty