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Bedroxx Rolling Out
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Former Chili Bowl Lanes
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By Tony A. Archuleta The former Chili Bowl
Lanes & Lounge on East Ninth Avenue in TorC is going completely
retro – and ultramodern – in one big boulder-sized roll. New owner Kirby Bond is
converting the long-closed bowling alley into Bedroxx, a
state-of-the-art venue big on family entertainment, from fun bowling to
video games and large video screens on the lanes – and from high-tech
light shows to glow in the dark bowling balls, pins, shoes and lanes. League bowlers and adults
out on the town also will find something to enjoy in this
Flintstones-like wonderland, including an expanded lounge/sports bar
featuring its own pool tables, a small package store, and a kitchen
serving a variety of meals and snacks, including some of the best pizza
in town (in partnership with Café Bella Luca Italiano). Bond owned and operated
nightclubs in Albuquerque (including Midnight Rodeo), Texas, Arizona and
California for 18 years before deciding to open a Bedroxx family bowling
entertainment center near Tucson in 2003. He’s currently chiseling out
a second Bedroxx in TorC and eyeing a July 4 grand opening. “The bowling industry
these days, the successful centers are all the centers that are
converting to a little bit more of a family entertainment,” Bond said
during an on-site interview Wednesday, May 21. “So you’ll be able to
get the traditional bowling element and the family entertainment
element, and they really have to coexist with the other. And that helps
to produce enough revenue to hopefully make a venture like this
successful in this market, because this is a pretty small market.” Bond moved to Sierra
County two and half years ago and opened Zia Ice Co., all the while
trying to come to terms on the purchase of the 18,000-square-foot
bowling alley, which was long owned and operated by Ken & Nancy
Shrum. The Shrums lost the
bowling alley to foreclosure in 2005, the original liquor license was
eventually sold and the bowling alley has been closed since then,
leaving a gaping hole in an already thin entertainment market locally. “Finally the stars
aligned where the price of the building and financing and acquisition of
the liquor license from Andy & Rick’s (Bar & Package, 704
Broadway) came together to try it,” Bond said. Renovation work started
last January. What used to be the
original bar on the northeast corner of the building is being converted
into a package store, while the long conference room adjacent to it will
become the new lounge with a long, zigzagging bar counter that not only
fits well with the new theme, but also allows for easier interaction
among bar patrons. Large windows looking out toward the lanes have also
been added in the lounge. “We want the energy to
pass back and forth between the bowling and the lounge,” added Rob
Moutz, who along with Bond shares the title of Bedroxx management team. Bond, a fifth generation
New Mexican, said he was born in Albuquerque but “raised like a
gypsy” because his father specialized in opening new lumber yards
known as Payless Cashways throughout the Southwest. “I don’t think I ever
lived in the same house for more than two or three years,” said Bond,
who graduated from Santa Fe High. Bond said he was just a
toddler when he made his first family trip to Elephant Butte Lake. His
mom has owned property at Hot Springs Landing since 1961. The company behind the
Bedroxx venture is called Sierra Entertainment LLC, and includes a trio
of local investors. It’s an encouraging
sign indeed that this investment team is putting what Bond calls a
“substantial amount of money” into this new business venture during
tough economic times both locally and nationally. “My family has been
entrepreneurial business people all my life, and the things that were
most successful were done at the time everybody said you shouldn’t do
it,” Bond explained. “And I think that’s going to be the case
here, because if you went to school for business you would not do this;
if you’re going by the seat of your pants because you live in the
community and you understand the community, you say I think it’ll
work, just take a gamble.” Interest in the ongoing
project among the general public has been an encouraging sign, but
it’s also been a challenge for work crews trying to get the renovation
work done while chatting up passersby and other visitors. “It got to the point
where we papered the glass, locked the doors and worked inside,” said
Bond. “So after word first got out that somebody bought the bowling
alley, I think everybody expected it was just going to reopen.” Bond describes the
decorative theme of Bedroxx as “pseudo-Flintstone-ish, hence the fake
rock inside the building and outside.” And the leopard skin-themed
carpeting inside. While adult league play
will be welcomed with open arms, so too will “non-traditional bowling
leagues,” such as youth/adult, where the prize is not necessarily a
trophy or even high-score bragging rights, but rather a Walt
Disney-character emblazoned bowling ball or some other exciting award. Bond said Bedroxx
management has every intention of being “price sensitive.” “That way people can
come here and for twenty bucks have a good time and not have it
disappear in 15 minutes like some of the entertainment facilities,” he
said. The automatic scoring
system will be all-new, and Bond and company are happy to report the
bowling lanes and machinery themselves are in fine shape. Bond said the one major
addition will be the installation of automatic bumpers. “When a child bowls and
you enter their name into the system, it’s going to ask if they want
bumpers, so that when a child goes up and rolls, the rails come out of
the gutters, and when an adult behind him goes, they automatically
retract into the floor so that there’s no having to drag out foam
gutter bumpers and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “That’s a big
change in the industry today.” Bedroxx will feature
between 35 and 45 arcade games, plus separate pool tables for the
younger set. Management expects to
employ about 20 individuals, from full-time to part-time workers. During an interview in
2005, Nancy Shrum acknowledged the bowling industry had shifted
demographics and that it would take a substantial investment to add the
bells and whistles to attract a new, younger customer base. The Shrums, however, were
accomplished bowlers who built a strong league-bowling base, which
appears ready to spring back into action. “We have been inundated
with people that want to do traditional league bowling, and we will have
it,” said Bond. “I think we’re going to have quite a bit of it,
but the one thing we will do is maintain open bowling capability every
night we’re open.” |
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