Story And Photo Courtesy Of Arizona Daily Sun - Flagstaff, AZ.
Flagstaff - - - That distinctive crack and rumble of falling pins, so sublime a sound to bowling aficionados, has returned to the Starlite Lanes in Flagstaff.
What, you thought the coronavirus would do in the sport? Hardly. As alley owner Ron Getto likes to point out, you can’t kill bowling even if you tried. Not during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic — and not now during our current health crisis.
Sure, bowling, like other recreational activities, was put on hiatus and forced to deal with difficulties that would make even the ol’ 7-10 split seem like an easy spare pickup. But it’s back, and Getto, in an online posting to his loyal lords of the lanes (aka, his customers), could not help but compare the current situation to the last great viral menace to reach our shores.
“… It is as old as the pyramids and has survived every world war to date,” Getto wrote. “It also outlived the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed over 50 million people worldwide. Ironically, at that time, one of the few prescriptions to avoid getting the flu was in fact — bowling! It was thought that being physically fit would prepare your body better to fight the flu. In no way are we prescribing bowling to avoid COVID-19. We are just pointing out bowling’s resilience and propensity to survive.”
And so, Starlite Lanes has been lit up once more. Now in its second week back, though only at 50% capacity and with a bevy of sanitation measures in place, Flagstaff’s only remaining bowling center rolls on. This, actually, is the second reopening for Starlite; it tried, briefly, in late May after initial restrictions were lifted, but shuttered its doors again once COVID-19 rates rose in June.
In nearly a decade of ownership in the quaint, mid-century modern alley on east Route 66, Getto has overcome many challenges to keep the historic alley, 62 years in the same spot, up and running.
The bowling center industry, though purported to be unkillable, has seen a dramatic crop in alleys, from 11,500 to 4,500 in a decade, Getto reports. The weather, too, has been a challenge. Lack of a summer monsoon the past two years has meant a drop off of walk-in business among young people and visitors wanting to come in out of the rain. Now, it’s the coronavirus. And on the horizon, perhaps next year, Getto says an out-of-state competitor plans to open a competing alley at the Flagstaff Mall.
Catering to customers' safety
But Getto, whom you might consider an odd choice to be a bowling magnate given his background in Wall Street finance, endures. Staff has been cut in half, in line with the reduction of number of people allowed inside. The menu at the restaurant has been pared, and he’s open only five days a week for the foreseeable future. Yet, he considers himself more fortunate than other Flagstaff small businesses.
“I don’t have a mortgage here; I own the building,” Getto said. “You know why I survived the last six months? Because I didn’t have to worry about my landlord being paid. That’s a big, big difference. Look, I pride myself on how I manage a business, but we haven’t made one dollar since we’ve reopened. It’s getting less bad. But when you’re only open five days, you’re losing those two days of revenues.
“I don’t know what the future will look like. And when you own a building like this, there are other uses if, God forbid, it doesn’t work out. That would be my absolute last choice.”
In the short term, Starlite is taking steps to lure back customers by re-instituting league play — those are his regulars, after all — but also making sure the alley is sanitized and safe for those who suddenly get the urge to roll a quick 10 frames and nurse a drink under an atmosphere Getto describes as “nightclubish.”
“People have gotten less concerned about contact issues,” he said. “But having said that, we’ve been putting the balls down in the lane, been taking your show order online. When you arrive, we’ll direct you to your lane, where there will be clean, sanitized balls and shoes, which you’ll leave when you’re done. If you walk in, we’ll handle that, too.”
From Wall Street to Route 66
Through it all, Getto says he remains bullish on bowling. Though alleys have dwindled, and league play nationally has ebbed, he is heartened by a steady rise in “open-play” bowling, in which people come for a night of entertainment rather than a relentless pursuit of a perfect 300 game.
It’s just this upside that drew Getto to Flagstaff in 2011. He’s a native New Yorker, a Wall Street guy, well versed in finance, accounting and investment management. He spent nearly 25 years working for two major firms before the 2008 recession led to his layoff. He had stock options and investments to cushion the blow, though, and he cast about for a change — both in business and lifestyle. He analyzed the bowling industry numbers, made projections, and determined that owning an alley in the right market could be lucrative.
So, in 2010, he called a broker inquiring about an alley for sale in Texas, and the guy mentioned that a new listing had come on the market that very day in Flagstaff.
“I was sitting in front of my Apple computer and googled ‘Flagstaff’ while I’m on the phone with the guy, and I notice it’s this far (fingers close together) from Scottsdale on the map. It was not a topographical map. I’d never been to Flagstaff, never been to the Grand Canyon. I did not understand.
“When my wife and drove up (from Phoenix’s airport) three weeks later, it was in the dark and you could sense climbing up the hills. Not until the next morning did we open the window and look out — this was in early September — and there was snow on the mountain. And we were like, ‘Wow. This is not south Arizona.’ It was gorgeous.”
They were hooked. By the end of the year, he’d closed on the purchase and moved west.
Getto was confident he could make a go at it, despite not being a bowler. He jokes that he didn’t know any of the bowling terms, such as a “turkey” being three consecutive strikes. But he learned, fast. And he reached out to Flagstaff’s small but ardent community of league players. Other alleys were making the transition to flashy gimmicks, such as “Cosmic Bowling,” with laser light shows and blaring rock music, and Starlite followed suit. But it was important to Getto to keep the traditionalists happy and keep the homey atmosphere of the alley as a hometown meeting place.
“More important than how you bowl is how you treat your customers, delivering an experience,” he said. “You have to understand who your customer is. There used to be four (alleys) in town and we’re it now, so we need to make sure to be there for the community. Over 10% of our revenues are contributed back into the community in fundraising."
Possible competitor at the mall
As if dealing with COVID-19 were not stressful enough, Getto says he has to deal with the specter of a competing bowling center, part of a Colorado- and Dallas-based chain called Bowlski’s that is planning to open in the mall in the next year. Neither representatives from Bowlski’s nor Mall representatives responded to multiple inquiries about possible plans for a bowling center at the mall.
“They’re starting to put in the lanes right now,” Getto said. “The fact the mall is bringing in a competitor does concern me. In fact, they (mall management) came to me first (about coming there) over two years ago. I wouldn’t do it. I’m in a good position here. I don’t have a mortgage here; I own the building.”
Now, it’s just a matter of getting people to feel comfortable enough to squeeze into a pair of rental shoes, burrow two fingers and a thumb into the holes of a sanitized ball. Getto says he thinks it’ll take two years to rebuild, with or without competition at the mall.
“I’m patient, I’m not stressed,” he said. “I have a very friendly landlord who treats me well. I’ve got a very loyal customer base who wants to support us. … Bowling has withstood the test of time. It’s been around since the time of the pyramids, 2500 B.C. It’ll still be here.”