Long-running Wisconsin bowling alleys adapt offerings to keep up with changing industry

Bowlers have been knocking down pins at Jeremy Brenner’s family bowling alley in Fond du Lac County for over 70 years.

But families can find fun in a lot more places in 2025 than they could in 1955. Generations Lanes in Eldorado has had to keep up and become more than just a place for 10 frames and a beer.

“If we had to just survive on bowling, there would have to be some significant changes to our hours,” Brenner told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “In the last year or two, it has been the first time since I’ve owned it where the food sales totaled more than the bar and bowling sales combined.”

He’s finding it harder and harder to fill bowling leagues the way his family could 40 years ago. He sees other local alleys grappling with the same issues.

The Bowling Centers Association of Wisconsin told “Wisconsin Today” that the state has more total bowling centers than any other in the country. 

But the market research firm IBISWorld found the number of bowling alleys in the United States has decreased 32 percent since 2005. 

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some larger corporations have bought into the bowling industry, acquiring alleys and converting them into entertainment centers with a wider array of offerings like axe throwing, minigolf and arcades.

In 2022, the Virginia-based corporation Bowlero bought JB’s on 41 in Milwaukee, Sabre Lanes in Menasha and Super Bowl Family Entertainment Center in Appleton. The company also runs AMF West Lanes in Milwaukee and Bowlero Wauwatosa among its over 350 locations in North America.

Those changes in the greater Milwaukee area hit close to home for Jaelynn Knaebe, who runs Sunset Bowl with her family in Waukesha.

She told “Wisconsin Today” she has watched other local bowling alleys like Fracaro’s Lanes and AMF Waukesha close in recent years. She knows she has to keep adapting to stay ahead.

“There’s always something newer and greater that is coming out every single year,” Knaebe said. “There definitely is a lot of pressure, but I hope to kind of keep with it.”

Knaebe and her family offer pool leagues, batting cages, volleyball courts and a revamped arcade to go with their two bars: Flanagan’s Pub and Sporties Sports Bar. She’s considering adding pickleball courts, cornhole boards and maybe even a golf simulator. 

It’s all about providing a space for family fun where the community can gather.

“We have a lot of groups that we work with,” Knaebe said. “We have a very big partnership with a lot of the special needs group homes in the area. We run a lot of leagues, a lot of Special Olympics events.”

Up at Generations Lanes in Eldorado, Brenner is taking a similar approach in his town of 1,500.

His alley has been the hangout spot for the Laconia High School girls basketball program that is the defending state champion and has made three straight runs to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state title game.

“We get amazing support,” Brenner said. “Integrating ourselves into the community, being strong sponsors of the fire department and the first responders and the Lions Club and all of the various athletic programs through Laconia is absolutely a huge part of our business.”

It has helped Generations Lanes get back to its roots. The building was originally a dance hall with basketball courts inside, then an ice cream parlor and barber shop before Brenner’s grandfather Otto Zahn bought it and converted it into a bowling alley in 1952.

The business changed a lot over the years, but its role as a community center has not.