Scranton planners conditionally OK Walgreens proposal to build at Green Ridge Lanes

[chetstugus]

Everyone has been emailing me about the lanes closing. I used to bowl there as a kid and worked there from the ages of 16 (got my working ppers at the admin building downtown) until I joined the U.S. Army when I was 24. I loved that place and all of the people I met there, good people mostly. I think the thing most people don't get is that bowling was a huge industry in the 50's and 60's. It started slowing down in the 90's and is almost dead in the 2000's. League bowling is the bread and butter of a center and when the leagues are full of older members that eventually pass on, they aren't getting a resupply of new members and then leagues old, leaving an open night of possibly no revenue. The upkeep on these places is alot. Green Ridge was built a long time ago and air conditioners, furnaces, carpeting, lockers, scoring machines and pinsetter all need a tom of maintenance. The roof there is pretty bad too. Around the mid 90's it was really good, two full shifts of leagues almost every night. I got outta there everynight around 1 am after clean up and everything was good. They always tried to make improvements to the place, be it extreme bowling, mechanical, birthday parties, new leagues, carpetin, a pro shop, electronic front desk system or restaurant upgrades, there was always an effort to make it better to get more people in and provide a safe place for kids and adults to relax. I know I always tried to give the best customer service I could and credit that place with the way I conduct myself today. It really put me on the front lines of customer care. I'm really going to miss seeing it there and stopping in when I visit Scranton. It was a major part of my life and I will feel that something is missing everytime I drive by and don't see it. Chet Stugus