HAMTRAMCK, Mich. – The Fowling Warehouse in Hamtramck is a fun spot to hangout and “Fowl," which is a combination of football and bowling.
With social distancing and other safety measures, things aren’t going to work the old way. They’re preparing to reopen with some big changes, all in the name of safety.
On any given night, the Fowling Warehouse in Hamtramck would be the place to go to. Many from all over, packed the place to play a friendly or competitive game of Fowling, it’s a simple concept of mixing football and bowling, but just weeks ago, they had to shut its doors, after Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued her stay at home order.
“We’re standing in the middle of our empty warehouse in Hamtramck in the front, open play lanes one through 10. And, yeah, just waiting, it’s echoey there’s nobody in here, just waiting for the folks to come back once all this craziness is over,” Chris Hutt said.
Hutt, with Fowling Warehouse, said things haven’t been easy.
“You know, you worry about everything. You worry about your employees, you worry about paying your rents and all their other bills. It’s a strange time. We had built a safety net for the unknown," he said.
Like other businesses, they had to furlough their employees as well.
“A lot of lot of our staff are part time. This isn’t their only job so a lot of people had other means of income from other jobs as well so total we emptied about 25 employees,” Hutt said.
Hutt said in the meantime, they’re taking extra measures, to make sure they’re ready, when it’s time to reopen. They’re talking about proper spacing and social distancing to stocking up on cleaning supplies.
“The little hand pump sanitizers, we put up a bunch right before we had to close. They’ll be many more out. We’ve ordered racks to hold, gloves, we’ll have three different sizes of gloves those racks will be located around the facility where people can go up and get some gloves. We’ve ordered masks for our staff," Hutt said.
But there is some good news, Hutt said, they’re able to expand their business to four other cities. Those cities are Dallas, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Indianapolis.