Richmond’s only 10-pin bowling alley is open again — this time under new management.
Lucky 9 Lanes opened on Monday after replacing The Zone Bowling, in the Riverport Sports and Entertainment Complex, which shut down in September owing $55,000 in overdue rent.
It’s also understood that the associated brewpub — formerly called Be Right Back Brewery — will be named Monkey 9 Brewery, possibly with an Asian theme, but it won’t be open for a month.
Lucky 9 Lanes’ general manager, Ryan Reid, insisted there’s still a strong demand for 10-pin in the city, despite the failings of former proprietors, who shut their doors twice in the last few years.
“I’m a bowler myself, so I know how big a loss it was to the bowling community when this place shut down,” Reid told the Richmond News.
“Bowling is a great, family activity, we have youth leagues coming back in a few weeks and people playing well into their 80s.
“It doesn’t discriminate and it’s always affordable. Bowling is huge in Asia and Richmond, of course, has a large Asian population.
“We have two leagues that are predominantly Chinese and there’s a large Filipino group that plays here; we’ve got a lot of daytime leagues coming back.”
Reid, who managed The Zone two years ago, got the call from the building’s owners two weeks after the former tenants were shut down. The owners set up the new venture and staff, said Reid, have been working hard for the last month to get things up and running.
“There wasn’t any forward planning; it was run down,” Reid said of the former bowling operation.
“We’ve immediately invested in the flooring, the walls, the shoes, the balls and we’re getting new scoring systems in soon.”
Although the brewpub next door isn’t ready to open, Reid said it’s getting a make-over and may be making its own rice beer, in line with its Asian-themed name, with it being the Year of the Monkey in China and the number 9 considered lucky in Asia. cultures.
In September, The Zone Bowling, owned by a numbered company, initiated bankruptcy proceedings after failing to pay its rent and was locked out by the building’s owners.
As a result, the brew pub, although not connected financially to The Zone, was also forced out of business.
