To stay with the topic, easy shots can help or hurt. Some of the JoeBowlers who start scoring higher will buy additional equipment as they get excited by the game. Others will say they don’t need the equipment because they are getting “better†using the same old equipment. It is probably a wash.
Off the topic, a little.
Making a living at running a proshop is next to impossible. It is now and always has been.
Done as a part time labor of love then you can make some decent side money.
Because of the internet it is increasing difficult to sell bags, shoes, etc. These are items that use to generate relatively easy profit. Internet sites sell these items pretty much at the cost of them to the proshop. Why sell anything and not make a profit on it? I wouldn’t sell a 3 ball bag that cost me $75 for $85, I would sell it for $110. Enough profit to cover the expense of stocking the item, taking bad checks, rent, warranties, etc.
The thing that grips me most about these items is that bowlers come in and look through you merchandise, ask for you advise, then go order it on the net. Often we are providing a free showroom for the internet sites. Then they have the nerve to come in and ask for warranty support when something goes wrong.
So that pretty much leaves bowling balls. No one (except people who understand the proshop business) seems to think you should make more than $30 selling a ball now days. That would mean you would need to sell at least 1000 balls in a year. That’s only $30,000 before rent, insurance, interest, bad checks, credit card fees, sanding discs, etc, etc, etc. Not a very good living. (Can’t count inserts and slugs, proshops are suppose to throw them in for nothing).
An average house probably has 400 to 500 regular bowlers. You would need to sell 2 balls to every one that bowls in the house. No going to happen.
