成人X站

First it was Narrows Plaza Bowl聽in University Place calling it quits in February, then Tech City Bowl聽in Kirkland earlier this week named October 2 as its final day. Now, the latest bad news about a Western Washington bowling alley comes from Grays Harbor County.

Word came Tuesday, when Rob Shaver, owner of , posted a flyer on the door of the longtime family entertainment establishment, which read as follows:

It is with great sadness that I must announce that Shores Bowl will be permanently closing in May 2022. We have been unable to secure a lease extension after 24 years in business with the same landlord. After 62 years, Ocean Shores will no longer have a bowling center, as the landowner says he has other plans for the this space. Shores Bowl has been a staple in this community since 1960 and has been owned and operated by us since 1998.

Shaver could not be reached for comment Thursday. A source told 成人X站 Newsradio that Shaver, who also owns , is taking news of the closure very hard, and not yet making himself available to speak to reporters.

In the meantime, Ocean Shores resident Brad Fuller reached out to 成人X站 Newsradio about the closure and shared a photo of Shaver鈥檚 note and a vintage photo of the building which houses Shores Bowl.

鈥淭here is 2-3 other businesses in the same building [who] are on the bubble whether they can continue in the same location, if at all, in Ocean Shores,鈥� Fuller wrote in an email Wednesday.

鈥淭he other rub with this building is that it was one of the original buildings by the original airport 鈥榯erminal鈥� in the 60s while they were developing Ocean Shores in the Pat Boone era,鈥� Fuller continued, referencing the involvement of the so-square-he鈥檚-cool, in the early years of the resort community鈥檚 development.

鈥淭hey used to fly customers and movie stars in to play the yearly golf tournaments, to help promote the selling of buildable lots in Ocean Shores,鈥� Fuller wrote. 鈥淭he airport has now moved to the east side of the Ocean Shores and the old runway was converted to holes 13-17 of 鈥榯he back 9鈥� 聽of the current golf course.鈥�

Greg Olsen is executive director of the . Like so many things, the spate of recent closures of local bowling alleys 鈥� but please, industry folks say we should call them 鈥渂owling centers鈥� 鈥� is all about the price of real estate.

鈥淚 don’t want to say it’s never been more popular, but you can’t find one bowling center owner right now who would tell you that the reason that they’re getting out of bowling is nobody’s interested [in bowling],” Olsen told 成人X站 Newsradio on Thursday. 鈥淪ome of the centers that are part of our organization have had the strongest [profit and loss] statements over the last 18 months that they’ve ever had ever. So the demand 鈥� [the] public wanting to come out and have a good time at an affordable price 鈥撀� has never been higher.鈥�

鈥淚t’s just that the value of property and the scarcity of property is really what’s driving this whole thing,鈥� Olsen added 鈥� whether it鈥檚 landlords choosing to not renew leases so they can build retail and apartments, or business owners themselves deciding to hang up the rental shoes and sell 鈥渢he farm鈥� to developers.

Add to this financial hardships from the pandemic 鈥� and, in some instances, family fatigue from running a business which may have been in operation for and by multiple generations 鈥� and it鈥檚 no surprise that so many bowling alleys are in flux or just plain headed off into the Sunset.

But, says industry guy Greg Olsen, it鈥檚 not all bad news. His group is meeting in person next week in Moses Lake for the first time in a few years. The Grant County community happens to be home to an exemplar known .

鈥淭here are 23 family members of the Russell clan that work for Lake Bowl, Incorporated,鈥� Olsen said. 鈥淟ake Bowl owns a bowling center. They have a casino, they have a hotel, they have a brewery [which are] all part of their entertainment complex. They’re on land that they own and [the business] was started by their mom and dad in the 1950s.鈥�

鈥淭here are still groups that like that, and with 23 family members working at Lake Bowl, there’s a way-strong family tie there that鈥檚 going to keep that bowling center and entertainment complex on the books and in business for a long, long time.”

But family-owned models aren鈥檛 the only source of good news among the closure stories, Olsen says, pointing to an investment-group owned entertainment complex in Gig Harbor 聽as another example of where the bowling industry is likely headed.

鈥淚t’s just spectacular,鈥� Olsen said. 鈥淚t’s a family entertainment center. It features bowling, it . It features a huge meeting space upstairs, huge arcade, wonderful restaurant and bar, live entertainment. It’s super, super nice.鈥�

Besides homegrown operations like Lake Bowl and Ocean 5, Olsen says the national chains like Bolero and Lucky Strike — as well as a relative newcomer called Round One — will continue to be a factor in the bowling ecosphere of the Evergreen State.

And, says Olsen, the closure of Tech City (alias Totem Bowl) in Kirkland could be an opportunity for the right entity if they can find suitable real estate that pencils out on more than a ten-frame score sheet.

鈥淭he void between Woodinville and Renton for bowling鈥� once Tech City Bowl closes, says Olsen, 鈥渋s gigantic.鈥�

鈥淚 guarantee you, there will be an investment group that will pop a bowling center in that geography. When? I couldn’t tell you,” he added. 鈥淏ut it’s going to be a very smart move when that happens.”

You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle鈥檚 Morning News, read more from him鈥�here, and subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast聽here. If you have a story idea or a question about Northwest history, please email Feliks鈥�here.