Vernon's long-running bowling centre will soon have a Golden touch.
Businessmen Vick Singh, 26, and Raj Kumar, 27, both from Golden, have purchased the Lincoln Lanes bowling business from the Wiffen family. Allan and Ev Wiffen, bought the bowling alley in 1968 with next-door-neighbours, then bought out the neighbours in 1969.
Their children, Gord Wiffen and Sandi Soroka, took over the centre in 1989.
The sale goes into effect May 1. The sale price was not disclosed. The website realtor.ca listed the property in September 2022 with an asking price of $1.9 million for the 1.18 acre "prime development property."
The 14-lane, five-pin bowling centre has been a family-owned business for more than 50 years.
The Wiffen family will keep the property and the building. The new owners, who own and operate Golden Bowling, have purchased the bowling business from the Wiffens.
"Our main business is bowling and we want to keep the majority of business toward bowling," said Singh. "We're going to add some food items and create more dining options for the customers."
Singh and Kumar purchased the then-closed Alley Cats Bowling in Golden in 2023, and reopened it. The opportunity to purchase the bowling at Lincoln Lanes was a chance the young men had been searching for.
"We were looking for a good, long-term going business when we found out about Lincoln Lanes," said Singh. "We're both pretty young so this is a really great opportunity, and we're hoping to create more options for people to enjoy themselves.
"We want to keep bowling alive, and we hope to get support from the locals. Other people have said bowling is a dying business, but it's not. It's a pretty entertaining business."
Singh said the prices at Lincoln Lanes will stay the same as will the centre's current employees.
"The staff can stay for as long as they want," said Singh.
Gord and Sandi grew up in the bowling alley, each helping out the parents at the lanes growing up. Gord had a pair of non-bowling-related summer jobs before landing work with the National Bowling and Billiards Company, building and resurfacing bowling centres, before buying the centre with Sandi from their folks in 1989.
Their families have grown up in the alley and the kids and grandkids have dedicated their lives to providing a social outing for many North Okanagan residents.
The siblings put the centre up for sale in order to retire. A petition was started to have the City of Vernon purchase Lincoln Lanes and keep it as a bowling centre, but the city declined.
For Gord Wiffen, the sale of the centre is bittersweet.
"I love the sport, I love the people. It’s like home," he said. "For Sandi and I the biggest thing for us was to keep it a bowling centre. Yes, the people are customers, but they're also friends. They all love bowling, we love bowling."
Lincoln Lanes wraps up its 2024-25 season with its annual High Rollers tournament Thursday, May 1, followed by the annual wrap-up banquets for all leagues (youth, adults, seniors) with Wiffen as emcee and host for each.
The Vernon centre has, for many years in a row, hosted a provincial bowling school every summer, along with public bowling. Both will remain in place under the new bowling ownership.
