Stéphanie Papineau and Joël Lamarche, owners of Salle de Quilles Cowansville, or Cowansville Bowling Lanes, have officially decided to close the doors to the bowling alley on May 13. Cowansville Bowling Lanes has been a part of the Brome-Missisquoi community for over 20 years and it has served as a central place for avid bowlers. It has also brought people together for birthday parties, events and holiday celebrations through its additional catering business. 

Cowansville Bowling Lanes dates back to the late 1990s and had several owners before being taking over by Papineau and Lamarche in 2019. Lamarche had been working at the bowling alley for nine years before deciding to take over with Papineau and making their dream come true.

“I know the place, I know the bowling institutes. I already knew the flow of the bowling alley,” said Lamarche. “We saw that we could bring new meaning to the business to give it a second wind.”  

Papineau said that what makes the bowling alley special is its ambiance, the dynamic staff team and the public. Running the bowling alley alongside their children, with Papineau’s parents also chipping in from time to time, Papineau said they had to make the rough decision to close the doors to the bowling alley as the pandemic forced them to close down various time over the last couple of years and it took a toll on its finances. 

“When Covid arrived, it has been six months that we were owners. In six months, you don’t really have enough time to put a cushion underneath you for events like that,” said Papineau. “It was too rough financially. We had no choice.”

They were no longer able to to welcome bowling leagues or host any events. When they were able to open for periods of time, things weren’t the same as they lost a lot of their clientele due to regulations and the worries surrounding COVID-19. 

“Considering we have an older clientele, there were many that fell ill and there were many that stopped the activity by fear of the virus. The regular clientele were no longer there for a rendez-vous,” mentioned Lamarche. 

May 13 marks the official last day for Cowansville Bowling Lanes. Papineau said that what she will miss the most is ambiance and the friendships they made a long the way. 

“Yes, it was our decision to sell, but it wasn’t a decision made with the heart. It was a decision made with the head and not the heart,” emphasized Papineau. 

Papineau and Lamarche have already sold the bowling alley to a church. While they don’t have many details, Papineau said they are not keeping the space as a bowling alley and plan on creating some type of community space. 

They are uncertain what is next for them, but they said that they are going to take the time to focus on themselves and perhaps look into keeping their catering business. 

“Recover psychologically, that’s for sure,” said Papineau. 

“It will be health: physical and mental,” added Lamarche. 

More importantly, they wanted to thank their clientele for doing everything that they could to support them during difficult times, including supporting their catering business as well. 

“We had clients that came more often to help us recover."

Listen to the interview below: