C&D Lanes is Optimistic About Opening Back Up

Wednesday, 26 August 2020 at 05:53

The bowling industry came to crashing halt on March 17th when businesses were ordered to shut down. C&D Lanes in Woodstock is hopeful that loyal patrons return.

WOODSTOCK - C&D Lanes in Woodstock is hoping to see more people out bowling in the near future.

Owner Carol Skillings explains what it was like when they had to shut down on March 17th.

"We had come into work and then we were mandated to close, pretty harsh crunch to the day, we had a ton of leagues that day, so we had to make the phone calls and let everybody know. It was a pretty sad day, we were all ready for March break and looking forward to the kids and the families and then we were shut down pretty hard, pretty quick."

She admits they did worry about being able to reopen.

"It was always a worry that we were not going to reopen, we do plan for big items like this, fortunately we were able to make it through and of course with the government help, that has also helped us a lot too. I think we were shut down for 117 long days and it was terrible, we have two people who work 70-80 hours a week and then they have nothing. We were in the bowling centre, we did some upgrades during COVID when we were off and getting ready to reopen. We started our plan to reopen on March 18th, we closed March 17th and we were looking at ways to get started March 18th."

Skillings says they reopened on July 17th, the first official day of phase 3.

"We had some faithful customers that we know and love and appreciate who came in and bowled with us that day. We were already gearing up to open, we had our sneeze guards in place, I had my policies and procedures, we already had a heavy sanitize schedule and we just tweaked it a bit with the help of bowl Canada and bowl Ontario with the protocols and the policies. July 17th, we had our doors open and waiting to see who was here."

Skillings says revenue has been down significantly since reopening.

"The industry across the board is down, we are seeing comparable revenues opposed to last years numbers between 12 to 18 percent. Obviously this is not sustainable and our league season is ramping up and I am looking forward to getting some customers back and some friendly and happy faces."

They have a number of safety protocols in place including a contact tracing information table right when you walk in, social distancing stickers on the floor. They have limited the number of bowling balls on the racks, everything else is covered in plastic. They have a sneeze bar installed at the snack bar and installed a debit machine. They are washing the lane balls and the shoes after each use and are even offering disposable shoes, where you can wear them once and toss them out.

Skillings says she is optimistic people will come back to the alley and have some fun. They will start offering birthday parties again as well and is excited to see some returning and new faces at the alley this summer.