[mmctrab]

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First thing I would do is go to the owner and ask him if he wll self-finance them for you.

Jimbo

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Good idea. Then you need to do a lot of other things. You need to look at his last five years worth of tax returns for which ever center you're looking at and preferably go over them with an accountant. You need to read up on everything you can find on running a bowling alley.

I'd ask this guy if he'd be willing to stay on as a manager with you for 6-12 months, which would make the transition a lot smoother, assuming this guy was good at running the centers, which is not a given. As much as I would dislike broaching the subject, you need to know why he closed them down. Saying it was for personal reasons doesn't cut it with me. If he didn't want to run them anymore, and they were profitable, I'd think he'd be able to sell them rather than just closing them down.

I would probably open one at at a time. If the first one does well you could consider opening the second, but if they're the only two in the county, and people who want to bowl are now leaving the county to bowl or not bowling at all, then just opening one may get back most of these people and unless overcrowding is too much of an issue at the first center you might want to just keep the first one open and hold off on the second one. Bowling seems like a pretty recession proof business so you may definitely be on to something here.