Woodlawn Bowl in the city’s north end has been a popular centre for bowlers of all skill levels for nearly three decades and owner Bob McKay is hopeful that modern upgrades will make it even more popular.
“The tenpin machines that are on string, will make us the first bowling centre in North America that is 100 per cent sanctioned by the Canadian Tenpin Federation,” said McKay. “What that means is if one of our bowlers happens to get an honour score or anything like that, they will get the honour score. There are other bowling centres in Canada that are on string but we are the only one that will be fully sanctioned by the federation that governs our sport.”
McKay and his staff staged an elaborate party Tuesday evening to showcase the new system and thank league bowlers for their support over the years.
“We are hosting Juno Award winner Sean Jones who will be performing for us this evening,” said manager Kathy MacKenzie. “There will be some announcements about the new centre, how we refurbished the tenpin lanes into string machines and our new lighting system.”
A number of high-profile guests were in attendance as well.
“We are the showcase for Qubica AMF who make the machines we’ve put in,” said McKay. “We are the first to have these particular machines so, we have sales directors and vice presidents from Qubica coming out of the States. We have the founder, president and vice president of Buffa Bowling, the Canadian distributor for Qubica that installed the system, coming as well. It is going to be funny tonight when the league bowlers walk in because I don’t think they know what is going to happen.”
McKay has invested nearly $3 million into the bowling centre since he bought it nine years ago and this is the biggest investment so far.
“The old tenpin machines had been in here for 28 years and customers complained that they were breaking down,” said McKay. “They were getting upset and I understand that to be honest with you because they are paying good money to bowl.”
He said the response from bowlers has been very positive since they completed the change over last month.
“There are no bad experiences anymore,” he said. “The machines don’t break down and that is obviously what I wanted.”
McKay was a patron of the bowling centre long before he owned it.
“I have been involved in the bowling community for the last 25 years,” he said. “My daughter Michelle bowled out of here. She is a tenpin bowler and she has represented the country at the World Championship. That is how I got into the industry. But I never had any intention of owning a bowling centre.”
MacKenzie worked at the Bowlerama bowling centre in the Grange and Victoria plaza before it closed 12 years ago. Many from the seniors’ league there followed her when she became manager at Woodlawn Bowl.
“It is the same with all my Special Olympic bowlers who used to only bowl five pin,” she said. “When I came here I thought maybe I would get 15 or 20 but I ended up with 50 bowlers first year. We didn’t have enough lanes to put them on.”
McKay installed five-pin lanes to accommodate them and has made a number of changes over the years to make the centre fully accessible to people with disabilities.
He wants the centre to be a place for everyone including families.
“We have 7,000 square feet of arcade,” he said. “We have five pin bowling. We have tenpin bowling. We have everything a family could want.”
The new sound and lighting system allows them to transform the centre into a bowling nightclub.
“For the Cosmic Bowl the centre goes completely dark,” he said. “The pin decks will be coloured lights. The lanes will be coloured lights. We have lighting across the ceiling. We’ve got a full audio-video system that all interacts. This place becomes a nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s a bowling nightclub.”
Woodlawn Bowl is now the only bowling centre in Guelph but McKay doesn’t take that for granted.
“There is an old saying in business, ‘you’ve got to spend it to make it’,” he said. “The lanes and the lighting system and the new computer system and all of that – this is the biggest investment we have ever done. It needed to be done so the consumer will enjoy their experience. So far, knock on wood, it has paid off.”