AL BLOUGH SELLS CENTERS TO BOWLERO, ENDS LONG CAREER IN BOWLING

It’s the end of an era in Pennsylvania bowling as Al Blough has agreed to sell his three centers — Berks Lanes in Sinking Spring, Limerick Bowl in Montgomery County and Hiester Lanes in Reading — to Bowlero Corp. At 85, Blough told The Mercury that he plans to enter semi-retirement, hanging on to one of the two fitness centers he owns.

Blough said he had not been thinking about selling his centers, all of which remain busy thanks to strong staffing and an emphasis on league play and youth bowling. He said the Bowlero offer “came out of nowhere,” adding that he felt good about the transaction because Bowlero is “serious about leagues, they’re serious about tournaments, and they’re serious about the bowling business.”

Still, the 2018 BPAA V.A. Wapensky Award winner and judge in the “Shark Tank — Bowling Style” competition at last summer’s International Bowl Expo in Louisville, Ky., said he is bittersweet about his decision.

“I’m looking back and thinking, when I started working in 1958, what a lucky break I had,” Blough said. “Because working in the bowling industry and with bowlers, man, I’m working with the best people in our society.”