Family-owned Biddle Bowl in Wyandotte to close in August after 76 years in business

Known by downriver locals as a Wyandotte gem, Biddle Bowl is closing after 76 years in business.

On July 14, current owners Robert Woelkers Jr. and Judy Sadler announced that the eight-laned, family-owned and well-loved Biddle Bowl was sold and would be closing on Aug. 23.

Fred Woelkers first opened Biddle Bowl on the corner of Biddle Avenue and Labadie Street in 1948, and he remained the owner until 1972, when he turned the business over to his son, Robert Woelkers Sr., who remained owner until 2002 when he passed the business down to his children, Robert Jr. and Judy.

The three generations kept the small bowling center up to date with technology as time passed, adding eight new lanes and automatic pinsetters in 1972, an automatic scoring system in 1992, and high-definition television monitors and a lane conditioner and oil machine in 2012.

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After Aug. 23, Biddle Bowl's building will be repurposed by its new owners, not turned into another bowling center, and its current owners of the past two decades will go into retirement, they confirmed on Facebook.

Dozens and dozens of community members have taken to Facebook to express their bittersweet sadness at the news, reminiscing the birthday parties, first jobs, league nights and many more fun nights out that they, their parents and their grandparents spent at Biddle Bowl's lanes.