THE future of Gambier City Bowl is under a major cloud after landlords seized the business’ building on Friday due to unpaid rent by the current owners.
Part-owner David Wyborn said he was served with a notice on Friday afternoon advising him that DeGaris Lawyers were “seizing” the building in 15 minutes.
A short time later the locks were changed and after 39 years in operation, the future of the ten-pin bowling business was thrown into limbo.
With his own personal financial woes, Mr Wyborn said the situation had left him and the business in a hole.
“If we come up with the amount of rent, we can open back up, but even if we do I’m not going to be apart of it,” Mr Wyborn said.
“The last five years have been dismal, we are barely making enough money to cover wages.”
Bill DeGaris said the owners of the business were “way behind” in their rent, leaving him with no choice but to take control of the assets.
“If they paid their rent and negotiate with us, they could see the continuation of the business, but we have not heard anything from them since Friday,” Mr DeGaris said.
“We believe there is a business there capable of being viable and profitable.”
It is not the first time the landlord has had to step-in, with the centre previously closing over a weekend due to unpaid rent.
Mr Wyborn believed the community lost a lot of confidence in him in the aftermath of that event, which led to a lack of personal motivation.
“Waking up day after day and doing the same thing has been tough and we just have not had the money to make any changes or upgrades,” he said.
“I could get family members to invest money, but I feel like I have lost the support of the people and they will not support it while I’m there.”
Having operated the business for the last decade, Mr Wyborn said it was a great place to be during the first five years.
“I have been a bowler for a long-time, I feel like I understand bowling and at the start we were turning over $600,000 a year and named the number one bowling centre in South Australia,” he said.
“I was working 100 hours a week and I was so passionate about customer service.”
However, it was the second half of his tenure in the business, which took it’s toll on Mr Wyborn.
“We went from having 15 staff to having three in the finish and we only had 50 disabled bowlers, 25 league bowlers and a handful of junior bowlers,” he said.
“Having 75 people out of a population of 25,000 attending your business weekly is not sustainable.”
Despite trying to continue to run the business Mr Wyborn said it was in vain, describing the entertainment venue as a “disaster”.
“There were days when we did not get a cent and we’d go five or six hours without seeing a customer and then have to put on a smile when someone finally walked through the door,” Mr Wyborn said.
“I feel like I have been crying out for years and while this is devastating due to the loss of income for me and the staff, it is also a massive relief.”
He admitted the staff would be understandably upset in light of Friday’s events.
“I have not had a chance to speak to them, but they probably do not want to talk to me anyway,” he said.
“They all have long service leave and mortgages, so it’s a really devastating situation.”
While Mr Wyborn said the lack of the success of the business was both his own fault and a sign of the times, he truly believed someone else could save it.
“Bowling alleys are struggling all over the country because people do not need it as a source of entertainment anymore with the rise of techonology,” Mr Wyborn said.
“It will definitely be a hard slog for whoever takes it over, but if someone came through with the money and the right attitude it still has a place in the city.”
