My friend, Tom Shannon, has recently opened, Bowlmor Times Square, a gargantuan entertainment complex that I hope will be a hugely successful investment for him. I think it will be. Tom has captured and encapsulated the spirit of New York in his Times Square homage to the city. He has divided his bowling lanes among a series of lounges – with different lounge themes to represent iconic places and times unique to New York City such as Times Square in the 1970s, Chinatown, Central Park, 1930s Art Deco, 1920s Prohibition, Pop Art and Coney Island. It is a place where city dwellers and tourists alike can escape for a few hours and in the words of Robert Putnam, they are free to "bowl alone." It seems ironic, but they bowl alone together. In New York, Times Square seems to be the ideal place to be alone together. Think New Year’s Eve….
Robert Putnam wrote a book entitled Bowling Alone about the collapse of social cohesion and civic engagement in the United States. According to Putnam, more Americans than ever before are bowling, but they are not bowling with and against their friends in regular leagues. I don’t think that Bowlmor is really going to promote leagues and encourage civic engagement, but I have no insight into their actual plans. And I don’t wish to disparage what Bowlmor is doing in any way at all. In fact, trying to recapture the past and recreate civic engagement and league competition on a grand scale would be a grand business failure in my opinion. As I see it, Bowlmor is a more grown-up version of the Disneyfication of Times Square. The business has the potential to draw in the tourist, corporate entertainment and nuclear family party trade and this is why I believe it has the potential to be a very successful operation.
Bowlmor in Times Square is an entertainment experience that is compelling enough to get people out of the comfort of their homes to enjoy it. Bolwmor is event driven. The tourists, the corporate party planners, the birthday party planners and younger finance and new media workers looking to get of their cubicles and apartments for a spell will find the entertainment value proposition compelling.
Bowlmor Times Square may translate outside of Manhattan as well. As it changes geographies, it would probably need to change themes, but the concepts remain viable. As more and more of our time is spent at work and with our nuclear families, less and less time is available for community, religious, social and extended family activities. As two income households travel and commute greater distances for work and have children who do the same for a variety of activities as well, there is little time and energy left for all other activities. A generation or two ago, parents may have participated on a host of committees in their local communities. Today, perhaps it is participation on one or two committees if they are fortunate. For whatever time that is left, families will try not to waste it. If they choose entertainment options, they increasingly look for meaningful entertainment value. Such activities need to be special to draw people away from the Internet, flat screen TVs and Xbox 360 Kinect systems. With each passing year, it becomes harder to compete with options that are available at home. And so we “bowl alone,” but increasingly in our own living rooms with our Xbox 360 Kinect. To bowl alone together, the experience must be exceptional.
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