BOWLING IS BACK
StrikeZone hosts successful soft opening
Bowling in the Imperial Valley is back. The only thing holding StrikeZone IV from having its official opening is acquiring their pending alcohol license, though this didn’t seem to be an issue to the hundreds of bowlers who attended the local bowling alley’s soft opening Saturday.
From 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., local bowling enthusiasts were finally able to satisfy their urge of knocking over pins after not being able to for more than a year.
StrikeZone took over the facility on N. Imperial Avenue that previous held Brunswick Zone XL, which abruptly closed on the afternoon of May 31, 2016.
Imperial resident Debbie Sempsrott and her family frequented Brunswick before its closure, and were one of the many families who occupied one of 36 lanes during StrikeZone’s partial opening.
To Sempsrott, finally being able to bowl was enough, though the upgraded Pro Shop, clean restrooms, additional arcade games and improved customer service made her enjoy the new bowling facility much more, she said.
“I think the service is good. They’re just attentive, you could tell they changed it up in there,” stated Sempsrott, who looks forward to once again joining a bowling league, which are set to begin sometime next month.
Also available to those at the opening was a fully functional arcade and Mozzarelli’s Pizza & Gelato, which had items such as freshly prepared pizza and pulled pork sandwiches.
Maria Rector, a StrikeZone employee, enjoyed that the bowling alley now has a local restaurant that has lower prices and is able to change its menu from the feedback they receive, unlike Brunswick which had a set menu.
Because the bowling alley is locally owned, being able to schedule parties and make any changes with ease is something Rector believes customers will significantly appreciate, as before scheduling and changes would have to be done over the phone through an out-of-state Brunswick office.
Rector is quite familiar with what bowlers enjoy as she has been an employee since Brunswick first opened and is now an employee at StrikeZone, amounting to about seven years working at the bowling facility.
Rector was glad a soft opening was held to avoid the rush that Brunswick had on its opening day.
“We had likes lines and lines of people. It was crazy,” recalled Rector.
Avoiding a similar situation was the reason behind hosting a soft opening, explained Arturo Santos, chief executive officer of ARC of Imperial Valley, the nonprofit organization that now owns the facility.
“We were afraid that a lot of people were going to come at the same time. If we said we were going open a certain day, we could probably get slammed,” Santos said. “This was a chance to let everybody start enjoying what we have right now. When we’re ready we’ll open full schedule.”
The opening gave everyone an opportunity to get overall feel for the alley, which was about 90 percent completed, stated Santos.
The 10 percent remaining consists of a few rooms that need to be painted, lazer tag, which is set to open Saturday, and acquiring their alcohol license.
“Apparently, there’s a lot of people that have the mental idea that bowling and beer go hand in hand. That, and chicken wings, so good thing we got the chicken wings already,” said Santos.
Hours of business will be extended and an official opening day will be announced once the license arrives, which is estimated to come sometime before September 15.
Until then, the alley is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.