I am interested in opening a Pro-Shop in my area of Central Florida. Does anyone have a list of distributors that I should contact? Thank you ahead of time for your help.

I worked at Classic Products located to Largo, FL (Tampa/St.Pete).  Call them and ask for Bill Matovina.  Super cool guy and he will get you hooked up.  The number there is 727-533-0476.

Unless you're mad at your money, don't do it.  It's a brutal business in a declining industry.

I dont even understand this.  One of my good friends owns close to 20 pro shops across the southeast and he says most of them are doing very well. I mean, are you doing your part to ensure the industry continues to decline or why would you discourage someone from doing something they like to do?   

I've done more than my share trying to "save" bowling.  At some point you have to get off the Titanic.

Why would I discourage someone?  Because I'm realistic and smart enough to know if there was a location in central Florida worth having a proshop in, Kegel, Bowlersmart or Bowlingworld would already be there.  And someone that has to ask who the distributors are in the area hasn't spent enough time around the business to have any idea what they are really getting into.

Last I checked, bowling is doing pretty well down here all things considered.  The center I bowl league at runs tournaments almost every weekend.  We all know "Tampa Tom" lives here.  But you also have Norm, Randy Pederson, Walter Ray, and Cristian Azcona, just to name a few and Kris Prather is from Pensacola.  Add to that, you have Kegel, Webber University, and Coolwick all down here as well.  The PBA spent a good amount of time down here last season in both Tampa and Jupiter and PBA50 and PWBA also have their stops.  So I do not see Florida struggling in the bowling department at all. 

We all have no idea what walk of life this guy comes from.  Maybe he loves the sport and has some money he wants to start a business with but without a lot of overhead thats fairly simple to run.  Maybe he just wants to be an owner and pay someone who is more knowledgeable from a ball driller standpoint.  Quite frankly, if I had $25,000 laying around and felt good about the location; I wouldnt mind starting one myself because Florida has always been somewhat a haven for bowling.

I'm not real sure what a few guys that moved to Florida 20 years ago have to do with the proshop business.  If I had to wager I would bet those 3 combined spend less time inside Florida bowling centers than you do.

Simple.  Its called promoting the sport.  If you think these guys just bowl 20-25 weeks a year and then just sit at home being fat and lazy, then I would wager that you would lose that bet.  As someone who has worked in a pro shop; its not just about drilling a few bowling balls.  Its about exposure and getting out and talking to people.  When I lived in Atlanta; I would work some of the Demo Days and other clinics and was able to meet some well known people in the industry.  Chuck Gardner, Lynda Barnes, Jason Sterner, the late Mo Pinel, Rhino Page, Randy Pederson, Lisa Wagner, and Brian Voss all come to mind.  You look at youtube with certain guys doing their vlogs like Brad and Kyle, Darren Tang, and Packy Hanrahan.  Chris Beans, who does the Bowlers Rant channel.  He is here in Tampa and have run across him several times.  Cecil Scarboro, Vise Grips rep for the Tour, is here also.  Oh yeah.  Almost forgot.  There is some Hall of Famer by the name of Jason Couch I have had the opportunity to chat with.  So I can assure you these "few guys" dont sit at home and do nothing when they are not bowling. 

You also have to remember that Florida is also the third largest state in regards to population and we are growing by an average of 800 new residents daily moving here from out of state.  So bowling is not dying here and from where I sit; with more and more people getting vaccinated and restrictions being lifted, I see more and more people getting back into the swing of things.  Maybe if more of us would be more encouraging as opposed to discouraging others to be involved in this industry, then maybe it wouldnt appear to be dying.