Michael Brown, assistant manager at Leisure Time Bowl in Cleveland, Tenn., wires in 32-inch televisions high above the 24-lane bowling center scheduled to open Monday. The new facility is in the same location as the former Bi-Lo grocery store on Keith Street.A longtime Cleveland, Tenn., shopping center owner has plowed about $1 million into vacant space at the site to build a bowling alley.
Leisure Time Bowling will offer 24 lanes when it opens Monday on Keith Street, owner Ben Moore said.
Moore said the bowling alley also will hold a 30-table restaurant, an arcade and pro shop.
He said he tried to lease the former Bi-Lo space since the grocer moved out about four years ago.
"I had a vacant building and I couldn't rent it," Moore said. "I needed an anchor."
He said he's teaming with Dewayne Williams, who recently closed the Bowling Factory in Bradley County. Williams will run the bowling alley, the shopping center owner said.
The location will hold Cleveland's only bowling alley, said Williams.
Other businesses in the 2739 Keith St. center are hopeful the bowling alley will draw additional shoppers.
Tony Arena, who manages a nearby Radio Shack, said there's no guarantee but the alley is better than empty space in the center.
He said that even with the bowling alley, plenty of parking will remain.
Moore said he has been working for about five months to convert the old grocery store space.
He said the center was built in 1981 by former construction company owner and current U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., for a Red Food store, which later became Bi-Lo.
Steve Johnson, executive director of the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, told Forbes earlier this year that bowling remains the nation's No. 1 participatory sport and a $10 billion a year industry.
More than 71 million people bowled between April 2009 and March 2010, the most ever, as more women and youth hit the lanes, according to the group.