The City of Whitehorse’s only bowling alley may be closing its doors for the last time as the owners of Northern Lights Bowling announced rising costs could mean the business permanently shuts by April 27.
Despite changing ownership and location, the Whitehorse business has been around for over 100 years. Initially opening as a 10-pin bowling alley with a women’s team in 1908, it moved around the city before settling in Riverdale as a five-pin alley in the 1970s, floor manager Matt Profitt told the News.
“Before the machines, it was people. They were the pin setters, and the kids would get paid, like 25 cents a game to reset,” Profitt said.
The mechanical pinsetters, dating back to the 70s, are still in operation and don’t always behave as they should, Profitt said. Replacing mechanical parts for the pinsetters is almost impossible and purchasing new machines to reset the pins could potentially set the business back hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It’s very, very difficult to find parts for the machines as the company that made them originally, I believe, went out of business sometime in the 80s and 90s,” Profitt said.
Profitt told the News that the business has faced declining revenue, possibly because of faulty equipment holding up games leading to fewer returning customers. Increased operating expenses from higher rent and bills have also put additional financial pressure to keep the lanes open, he said.
Despite the decades-old pinsetters, Northern Lights Bowling has been a space for amateur and competitive bowlers from across the Yukon to gather and engage in the sport.
“We host Special Olympics bowling community events every Saturday morning. They use our facility to train for their nationals where they go elsewhere within the country,” Profitt said.
Northern Lights Bowling’s floor manager also told the News that the business has been used as a recreation spot by First Nations communities from across the Yukon.
“We host a lot of the First Nation communities from outside of Whitehorse like Teslin, Tagish, White River, Carcross, Carmacks. We've had groups from Faro. People come not just from Whitehorse, but from the vast communities of the Yukon. We've even had people from Mayo and Old Crow,” Profitt said.
Additionally, Whitehorse schools have organized trips to the bowling alley, usually after graduations, Profitt said.
Northern Lights Bowling faces restrictions to funding because of its for-profit status, making the bowling alley ineligible for government grants and local support. This makes it hard to get help from the City of Whitehorse, the Yukon Government and Sport Yukon, Profitt said.
He added that one solution is to create a non-profit entity to secure funding. This non-profit entity could find other income sources and support the bowling alley, helping with rising costs and replacing old equipment to sustain the city’s only venue for the sport of bowling.
“Honestly, we've had people coming in talking about investing and coming up with ideas of having multiple investors and creating a non-for-profit, like a bowling board, I guess, so that they can come up with ideas to generate more income,” Profitt said.
Although some investors are interested, no firm offers have yet been made. Profitt said the owners have valued the business at approximately $560,000, but old equipment and limited revenue options make it tricky for the business to secure investments.
The bowling alley also faces seasonal challenges, closing completely during summer months. This means no revenue during the off-season yet bills still need to be paid, Profitt said.
Birthday parties make up a bulk of the group bookings, with an average of 17 parties each Saturday. However, there are few league and group bookings and minimal walk-in traffic, restricting the bowling alley's overall earnings.
“We get a lot of birthday party bookings. We used to average last year about 17 parties every Saturday. Every party is about two hours,” Profitt said.
Operational constraints have further hit the alley with revenue problems. The old machinery limits booking capacity and frequent breakdowns reduce operational time. The touch screen system is incompatible with the 1970s equipment, preventing the owners from consistently expanding and modernizing the bowling alley.
“The touch screen system is a brand new system. It's probably, maybe 10 years old, and then when they put it together with the old stuff, it didn't combine as well as thought,” Profitt said.
Contact Jake Howarth at jake.howarth@yukon-news.com
