Keeping the Lanes Busy

James Simone, general manager of Brunswick's Woodhaven Lanes bowling center in Queens, NY, credits the company's e-mail marketing program with helping keep lanes busy that previously were often dark.

“With a facility as large as mine, it's difficult to fill all 60 lanes,” he says.

Now those underused lanes serve as loss leaders for food and drink purchases and shoe rentals.

“The price per game does drop, but all the other ancillaries come up,” Simone says. “People will come in and pay 89 cents, 99 cents a game and we can fill lanes that always used to be dark at certain times. They're always running now.”

He adds, “It can get kind of pricey for a family of four to come out and bowl. But now with coupons offering 99 cents a game or $35 for two hours, they can afford [it]. If they have extra money in their pocket, they may spend it somewhere else in the center.”

Woodhaven Lanes has about 13,000 customer e-mail addresses. Simone is so positive about the program that he runs internal contests offering $50 and $100 gift cards to the employee who collects the most addresses.

“The returns from that database have been big — really big,” he says.