When the Super Bowl Lanes bowling alley in East Windsor opens up again, it won't be business as usual as long as COVID-19 precautions have to be taken.

"We're going to have our staff wiping down, cleaning probably as much as possible, every half an hour. Before we were doing it every two hours," said co-owner Cory Clarkson, adding balls will be wiped down every time someone is done with them and lanes will be sprayed with disinfectant as often as possible. 

"We're looking into possibly putting in dividers on lanes," he said.

The bowing alley is also using a service called Go Fog It. The company uses a handheld spraying machine to disinfect large areas of the bowling alley.

"We're going to continue with the fogging every other week just to keep it as clean as possible along with our cleaning company we have that comes in every night," said Clarkson.

When it comes to leagues, they may institute staggered start times so there aren't as many people in the facility at the same time. Clarkson said they may spread people out by assigning every other lane.

At the Shred Shop Wellness Complex on Erie Street East, owner Sawyer Telegdy is preparing to install Plexiglass dividers at service desks and will be sanitizing equipment after every use.

"Our overall concern is just instilling the confidence in all of our members to ensure that this is still going to remain a safe place," said Telegdy, adding they also must follow medical regulations as well because they offer massage therapy, counselling and chiropractic care, with personnel wearing PPE. 

"So we've actually turned our gym facility into almost a medical centre in terms of the cleaning and the sanitation that we're going to be doing.

She added that there will be sanitizing stations every 20 feet and an extra staff person has been hired to do the cleaning. The gym will also run extra classes to keep groups of people smaller. 

Telegdy said they don't have a lot of machines but clients use individual equipment like bar bells, dumb bells, and tires, allowing the clients to work separately in their own areas — but that comes with a price, literally.

"Somewhere between 1,300 to 1,500 dollars a month is now our new sanitization budget," said Telegdy.

Jonathan Renaud, general manager for the Olde Walkerville Theatre on Wyandotte Street East, isn't sure how they will handle any physical distancing requirements.

He said seats on the main floor are moveable, so they can be spaced out. But they need to have 300 to 500 people in the theatre to make a profit if they intend to hire the same calibre of acts, which can cost them about $10,000.

"We've been exploring options like pay-per-view online streaming platform so you can watch concerts virtually," said Renaud, adding that if they could only have small audiences the type of acts would have to be less costly.

Renaud said they would be doing a lot of sanitizing both in the theatre, in the lobby and at the concession bar.

"Keeping a 100 year-old theatre clean is very difficult especially with all the dust that floats around," he said, adding they are prepared to stay closed until January if need be but would prefer to open this September since this year marks the business' 100th anniversary.

"Right now, we're just formulating a plan on how to offer vouchers for future events, how to offer refunds, because we never had to do it before."

All three businesses feel confident they can survive the closures. The Super Bowl is serving take-out food but Clarkson said even though summer is their slow time, they don't want to be closed much longer than the current deadline of June 30.

"We're in a tough time right now for sure."

Dale Molnar is a video journalist at CBC Windsor. He is a graduate of the University of Windsor and has worked in television, radio and print. He has received a number of awards including an RTDNA regional TV news award and a New York Festivals honourable mention.

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