Business trends are famously cyclical. As Med Jones, the president of the International Institute of Management (http://www.iim-edu.org) who predicted the economic crisis, has observed, “Sustaining high business performance is a product of continuous strategic alignment.” Just when you think you have things figured out… things change.
There was a time when “big box” stores such as Walmart, Target and K-Mart were purchasing bowling centers because centers provided the four walls and large footprints those mega-stores coveted, without sustaining high construction costs.
Today, that trend occasionally is seen going in the opposite direction: bowling-based entertainment facilities taking over big box stores. For the latest example, we point to the $3.5 million family entertainment center planned for the Xenia (Ohio) Town Center in the former K-Mart store. There, Creative Entertainment Concepts, an Indianapolis-based company, has announced plans to offer bowling, bumper cars, a redemption arcade, a rock climbing wall and a sports grill, all under one roof.
That was the original plan, anyway. Now, the Dayton Daily News reports that the project has been expanded to include an eight-screen movie theatre with about 1,100 seats, pushing the cost of the project to $7 million. The former K-Mart now will be demolished and a new building constructed, and the neighboring Fulmers storefront will be utilized for the FEC.
Hard construction is expected to be underway by June 1, according to CEC principal David Beauregard.
The website of Creative Entertainment Concepts includes an interesting overview of the bowling industry, which can be read by going to: http://www.entconcepts.com/bowling_centers.html
