CANTON — Debbie Weber Kasapis wants to make two things clear, despite rumors being generated about her business.
- Strike Zone Lanes, located at 1222 Whipple Ave. NW, in Canton, will be reopening Oct. 4 after being closed since late July.
- The 17,182 square foot, 24-lane bowling center, with bar and restaurant, is being listed for sale by Howard Hanna at a price of $1.9 million.
“We had to close in July due to electrical issues,” the 58-year managing partner and center owner said. “It has taken longer to reopen than we thought.”
She still is looking to fill several positions at the center, including desk workers, pin chasers, mechanic and cooks.
Recently, snieronbowling.com sat down with Kasapis to discuss Strike Zone’s present and future. In a wide-ranging interview, she attempted to address various rumors about what has been happening at the center, which her and her son-to-be ex-husband Paul Kasapis bought in 2014.
Here is a transcript of that interview (answers and some parts of the interview were edited for content and brevity):
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SNIER ON BOWLING: Are you still open?
DEBBIE KASAPIS: Currently we are not open. We closed around July 15 or 18, with summer maintenance being the main reason. The second reason for closing during summer maintenance was we had a major storm and had some serious electrical damage which took probably four weeks longer to fix than we thought it would. So we were supposed to open Labor Day weekend and we just had a lot of delays. Now that is all fixed. AEP had to come out and do their thing and we passed all their inspections (Sept. 25) and should have the power back on by (Sept. 28). Our official reopen date is Oct. 4.
SOB: Have there been any other problems with utilities other than electric?
DK: Absolutely. I forgot to pay the water bill one month and they did come and shut it off. But they turned it right back on the same day. It happens … I’m not perfect.
SOB: There’s no secret the center is up for sale. Under the current agreement, can you sell it if someone was interested?
DK: Yes. I can. The issue is my divorce (from Paul Kasapis) is not final so it is still considered a marital asset. So he does have some say at what the price it is to be sold at. The original listing price was at $2.1 million, and we moved it to $1.9 million. But again, nothing is set in stone and we are open to offers. In the divorce process I can buy him out, he could buy me out. We just have to wait and see what happens. We would have to agree on any offer at this point.
SOB: Estimate how much money you have put into the business?
DK: So we bought it at the end of 2014, and opened in January 2015. No automatic scoring, no synthetic lanes … I could go on and on. I’m going to say since 2015 forward we probably put $750,000 plus into it. That has nothing to do with the original price (she declined to disclose that figure). We had already owned El Dorado, I didn’t really want it. Was it a good decision, yes. But at the time we were married and we had three other businesses going. But here we are and we’re trying to make the best of it.
SOB: We saw the ads seeking employees. Do you currently have any employees?
DK: Yes. We’re always looking for more even when we are at semi full capacity. The problem is with COVID you still can’t get people to work. Sometimes you get people and they just don’t work out. We have a slim staff. We have a part-time mechanic who is retired but comes in and helps. We are looking for a full-time mechanic. We need desk people and we are always looking for a full-time cook. Everything will be open when we reopen.
SOB: With the elongated shutdown, we understand you lost your leagues. How many did you have?
DK: We had three leagues. The third one, and the last one to leave, was supposed to start Sept. 28. I talked to them and they were very nervous. I understand it completely and told them you do what you need to do. Do we like to have leagues? Yes. I never take them on the weekend just so I can focus on open bowling, which is what works for us. If a league comes to us, great, we’ll take them. We do have our billiards leagues on Wednesday and Thursday nights. That Wednesday lbowling eague is doing a short-term league that will take a break around Christmas for a couple of weeks, but they may come back the second week in January. That is to be determined.
SOB: So right now it will be strictly open play. What are your hours going to be?
DK: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. during the week and until 1 a.m. on the weekends. We will be closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
SOB: What is the reason for closing on a weekend day?
DK: Sunday is because we just can’t get the staff to come in. If I get the staff I will be happy to open on Sundays. We tried last year and it was hard. Just getting people to work on Sundays and scheduling a smaller staff is difficult. When you work on Saturday nights, you don’t work on Sundays. We want to add at least five or six people. Currently, we have five on staff.
SOB: With everything that’s going on and the rumors, how has it been on you personally?
DK: It’s a lot. I never like to sound like a crybaby. You get up everyday, you do your job and do what you have to do. What kills me about all the rumors, a lot of them come from people that I personally know. If you don’t know, ask me. I’m not hiding anything. It’s not easy, especially with a seasonal business. Any bowling center, bar, restaurant business is hard to run today. It’s been tough to come back after COVID. It’s not an excuse; it’s a reality. We try to be fair and reasonable with our pricing, and I think we have been. I look around at what other people charge. Bowling alleys that charge $20 ormore a bucket for beer and they get it, but I can’t do that. You’re not going to please everybody no matter how hard you try. You’re going to be wrong about something.
SOB: What will your open bowling prices be at this point?
DK: It’s going to be $6 per game on the weekends and $3 for shoes. We run specials during the week and the most would be $4 per game. I don’t do the by the hour thing. Generally, I like the per game. I think you are limiting your customers to be there a certain amount of time with the hourly rates. I know a lot of places do it, but are you helping or hurting yourself? We were doing deals during the summer, like $2 Tuesdays, $2 hot dogs and $2 fries. It was insane. People would be lining up at 4:30 and fighting because they couldn’t get a lane. It’s good to be busy, but it got a little crazy.
SOB: Other centers have leagues during those periods. Do you think this will give you an advantage with open play?
DK: On Fridays and Saturdays, it does. That’s why we don’t take leagues anymore. I married into El Dorado and with the experience here, we used to take leagues until 2018 or 2019. Then we stopped taking them. If you get a really good drinking league, you’re doing well. But if you get a league that is not drinkers or eaters, they come in, kibbitz and stay forever. Not that we don’t love them, but you’re not making money on bowling. Your money is in your alcohol and food. As far as bowling, it takes a lot to run those machines but they don’t bring back a lot from bowling itself. Everybody thinks because you own it, that you have a million dollars in a safe somewhere, you’re banking all this money and living the high life, taking trip to Europe every other month. It’s a lot of work. On pro weekend, the first time, I pretty much slept there. It’s not an easy thing … any business. You have to babysit it … it involves alcohol and you have to trust your employees. I was lucky that several key people were there when I took over in 2018. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I could have done it. No one can do it themselves.
SOB: How hav you been treated as female owner in the bowling business?
DK: Being a female trucking dispatcher was one of my first jobs and I had to battle for respect. Bowling is almost same thing. You feel a lot of times that people want to talk to the man of the business, but this is it. I’m the manager and I’m the owner, but people don’t always like that answer .
SOB: Anything you are particularly a stickler on?
DK: It doesn’t help my business sometimes, but I am a stickler for the Vape thing. I really don’t think the general public understands it. I keep an airhorn behind the bar for when I catch someone vaping. I don’t think it’s helping your business. It’s not permitted inside bars; I’m not doing it to be a jerk, but it’s the law. Even my regulars get upset about it. I just I don’t need extra fines for that in the bar.
SOB: How long can you hold on to this?
DK: I’ve been doing it since 2018, and it’s a tough business. I can hang on to it until ether I sell it or retire. I’m not going to give up. I have too much to lose, not just financially, but the blood, sweat and tears, the work. I have so much into this, I’m not going to give up. It’s one thing to close for a few months during the summer and reopen. Granted does it hurt? It does, but COVID really hurt and it has made it harder and harder to keep going during the summer. You have to keep going.
There are a lot of people who ask, is it worth $1.9 million? That’s up to the beholder. Is it worth $1.4 or $1.6 million, that’s up to really someone else to decide. People just don’t understand how much money is involved. Go and try to open any business, there is so much involved … it’s not easy. People who want to laugh at the price or say rude things to me, it’s not a business where you’re going to say here is $35,000 … that doesn’t cover repaving your parking lot. I have been offered by someone to come in as a partner, but it wasn’t a serious offer. There’s a lot of things to consider. There’s the investments we made in automatic scoring and synthetic lanes. When we first took over, we were fortunate there was a city-owned center in Loveland, Ohio,, that was remodeled in 2012-13. The city decided to sell property in 2014, we bought most of the contents at auction. That really helped us with Strike Zone to get things going.
We also have relationships with other centers asking about parts. You need that. Everyone thinks it’s a big competition. It is, but it isn’t. If one goes out, it hurts all of us. Everything one thinks it just more business for everyone else, but it doesn’t mean that. At one time Stark County had the most bowling alleys per capita in the U.S.
SOB: Machine-wise, what shape is everything in?
DK: It’s in decent shape. Honestly Lanes 23 and 24, we need to do a lot of work on those. They were such problem children. We shut them down for the time being. They need new cameras, new video screens … it needs a lot. Until you build your money back up, in the grand scheme of things, I’ll lose one pair. Everything else is up and running. We’re not perfect, no matter how much work you do. You plan for everything, but things happen, just crazy stuff, you don’t expect. I try to stay out of the mechanical end as much as possible.
SOB: Are you getting new pins in or not?
DK: Probably in the spring. Try to switch them out every six months for a rest. When I took over in 2018 we bought new pins and in 2021. The really terrible ones, we just put in boxes. It’s hard to get parts, people to work, but, fingers crossed, I’m not giving up.
SOB: What is the PBA (Central Region singles) situation for next year?
DK: Once the house has a pro tournament, they would like you to keep it. I haven’t talked to (region director Bobby Jekel). I talked to him at the end of the tournament last March and they would like us to do it. I wiill talk to him sometime in October and decide if we are going to do it again. That weekend costs me about $15,000 to put on because we put up most of the prize money for the past two years plus all the extras that go with it. If we can afford it, we will, if not, it will pass to another house. Do I hate to give it up? Sure I do, but in the scheme of things staying open, staying afloat, keeping your high school teams, keeping people coming in … you have to consider them all.
SOB: Have you spoken to the high schools about this season?
DK: Central Catholic is supposed to return, but Sandy Valley may or may not be returning. I gave them a start date of Oct. 1 so we’ll see what happens. (Editor’s note: Central Catholic has confirmed it will be moving to AMF Hall of Fame this season and has begun open gyms at the site). Since Carroll Lanes has reopened and that was their home house for a long time and I have no problem with that. We will do what we need to do.
SOB: What about other aspects of the business?
DK: I can say that one of the things that helps us out immensely is private parties. I’m not open during the day but if you want to book a company event or do team bonding whatever we will open for that. People think you are making all your money off league play, you’re not. You need all the components to make a business work. It’s the bowling leagues, it’s the pool leagues, the party business … it’s not one thing that keeps a business going. … We tried with the restaurant. I think our food is pretty good, pretty fair. … I charge $14 to $16 for a bucket of beer depending on the beer and people get upset with me. Six beers, $16 and they bitch at me. … They complain it’s $5 for a shot of Fireball (whiskey) now. That’s what kills me about all of it. People want to run their mouths … they are entitled to their own opinions … but they want to run their mouths about things they clearly know nothing about.
Do you have any idea what liquor costs today? Do you have any idea what it costs to keep the lights on, the electric bill, the gas bill, the water bill? It’s insane. I can understand why corporate centers charge what they do. I just don’t understand how they get it.
Another huge problem is people drinking in their cars in the parking lot or sneaking in their own (liquor). I had a mom call saying we were serving her underage child. We check every ID always. I don’t take out-of-state IDs. I said bring in the credit-card receipt. I will personally take that up with Liquor Control or the sheriff’s department. She never brought it in. Can it happen? Sure. Or, did they sneak it in and say they were here. I knew for a fact it wasn’t us because that weekend we had no open bowling. And it’s something we would not do. It’s my liquor license and I’m fanatical about that. …
If someone is repeatedly going outside to their cars,, they’re drinking. I don’t have time to be a watchdog. I’m one person and I can’t work the bar, police the bar and go police outside. Do you hire security, do you start doing bag checks … where does it end? Or do you just want people to not come there because of being too strict? We can’t have that either.
There’s multiple ways you can hurt a business doing that. We’re not the movie theater. We’re not that expensive and even our drinks are not that expensive. If you are drinking in the parking lot or sneaking it in, first of all you are hurting my business. If you did get served there and you go out and have a problem, it comes back on us. I had better have proof I only served you once.
SOB: But things will go on as of Oct. 4?
DK: We’re still here. You can’t let the ship go down. So much adversity, so many outside forces I’ve been battling, but I can’t let that determine what I’m going to do. I’ve worked my ass off for this. We started from scratch as a team and built it to what it was. Lot of things happened, both personally and professionally. COVID happened, but even with that we didn’t get the help others got. But we still came back and persevered.
SOB: The property itself, how much do you own?
DK: Technically where the grass is on both sides of the building is where my property ends … at the end of parking lot to the putt-putt course is their’s. In the back straight back to the trailers. We put those there, because people were using the parking lot as a cut-through and making deliveries back there to block that from happening. We have no problems at all with the drive-through now. There were different owners at the time. I know there were a lot of rumors out there. Behind us is protected wetlands, so our property doesn’t go that far back to the grassy area. Edges of parking lots on both sides is ours and it only goes back deeper on the back end of the building.
SOB: I know you used to also own the former El Dorado Lanes. Do you still?
DK: No, that is gone. It was sold during a closed bid process and nothing has been done with it.