Bowling alley owners across Michigan are sounding the alarm over how much longer their businesses can survive on-again, off-again pandemic restrictions that ban indoor dining and limit who can bowl.
The restrictions, set by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services since March, are confusing and may result in more bowling alleys going up for sale or out of business entirely, say owners.
In Berkley, Hartfield Lanes, which has operated in the city s downtown for more than 60 years, for example, is now on the market.
“We just don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ve been shut down eight of 11 months, and I’m going into my personal savings to keep the business going,” said Jeff Hartfield Jr., whose grandfather started the bar-turned-bowling alley in the 1940s.