Tenpin bowling locations are a primary setting for coin machine operations, so major movements in that sector are of considerable interest to the amusement industry.
That Brunswick Corporation is moving away from tenpin bowling by selling its bowling operations asks many questions of a sector that has arguably struggled in recent years.
Yet bowling remains a staple anchor ingredient for any big shopping outlet with their associated family entertainment centres. So what’s the problem?
In the case of Brunswick Corporation, it seems, the company decided that rather than spend huge amounts on updating its near-100 US locations it would rather accept the unsolicited offer from Bowlmor AMF, a larger competitor, and instead spend its money on its boating and fitness equipment interests. While the US bowling centres operation is now gone, the remaining supply business is also up for sale with the intention of disposal this year.
Bowling generally has had a rough time, especially since the recession. And bowling centres have changed with fewer of the large, sports-dominated centres - they are being replaced by smaller boutique centres. Pre-2008, if you had put together the revenues of the “big two” suppliers - Brunswick Bowling Products and QubicaAMF - the figure would have hit somewhere around $350m. In 2013 that figure would have almost halved.
While Brunswick Bowling Products has moved quickly to assure the the sector it's business as normal for the bowling brand now and into the future, news of the sale of Brunswick Corporation's operations will send shockwaves through the amusement industry. And, with its product arm business up for sale, no one at this stage knows whether the Brunswick Corporation will exit the bowling business altogether. Either way, it could opens doors for the main rival, QubicaAMF and its smaller challenger, the Turkish-based Switch International. It will also open up opportunities for the cheaper Chinese products.
