Estevan Bowl had to wait a little bit longer to be able to open again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now that it is open, it is pleased to see people coming in to play.
While other sports and businesses were given the green light to open again in June, albeit with some tough regulations, Estevan Bowl and other alleys across the province were closed until July 6.
“Things haven’t been really busy, but we’re getting back going,” said Estevan Bowl owner Dave Rosenbaum. “We don’t have any leagues running at this time. We just have lanes available to the public for rent.”
He believes they’ve been fairly quiet, in part, because it’s not league season. They’re open for just drop-in play.
And Rosenbaum said some people are still hesitant about going out.
“We’re doing some business, and we’re hoping that as the days go on, things get busier, and as we roll into September, we’re expecting things to be kind of back to normal,” he said.
People who have visited Estevan Bowl have been pretty understanding about the new regulations. The same thing goes for their restaurant EB’s Dining Emporium.
“Nobody seems upset about any of these regulations,” he said. “We want to continue to do them, because we don’t want our customers sick, we don’t want our staff sick and we don’t want ourselves sick.”
Groups have to practice social distancing when bowling, so there will be an empty lane in between. If somebody is on lane 3, nobody will be on lane 2 or 4.
“Groups can come in and use more than one lane, but we still need to have that one lane of distancing between groups, to give lots of elbow space,” said Rosenbaum.
Enhanced cleaning is also now part of their operations. They are sanitizing bowling balls between groups and they’re performing extra cleaning of rental shoes. Increased cleaning is also occurring in the bathrooms, and on countertops and other high-touch areas.
“Other than that, things are pretty much normal,” he said. “Summer is not a busy time of year for bowling. Bowling is somewhat seasonal, but it’s good that we reopened in the summer, because it just lets us ease into things, and get used to these new policies for both us and our staff.”
It’s their full intention to offer all of their leagues in the fall.
