Even a center with as few as 16 lanes can be a candidate for “down-sizing,” depending on the community and the marketplace.
Case in point: Four Seasons Bowling Center in Hillsboro, Ore., outside Portland. The 16-lane center opened in 1947, and was purchased by George Mareina in 1978. Now, Mareina’s son, Daniel, is the operator.
Realizing that the 16 lanes were rarely being used at capacity, Mareina decided to increase revenue by adding a full-fledged arcade. He removed four lanes and replaced them with a new arcade and redemption area.
“We had a few arcade games off to the side, but it wasn’t a real arcade,” he said. “Now we have 25 games and a redemption center.”
Intercard was selected to install a debit card and redemption management system. Several local arcade operators recommended that Mareina use a debit card system, telling him that eliminating the headaches from coin jams and ticket jams alone was worth the cost. Eliminating paper redemption tickets was a bonus.
“In Oregon, saving paper… anything that’s green… is a selling point,” Mareina said.
Four Seasons is using Intercard’s iReader II Eclipse readers, an iTeller II kiosk and a Redemption POS system. Ryan Muller installed the system and networking equipment in March. Specialty Coin Products provided the arcade games and fitted them with Intercard readers.
In addition to the arcade, Four Seasons Bowling Center has a sports bar and restaurant, as well as 12 vintage wooden lanes.
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