Winner: Big Al’s
Daniel Kirkwood, co-owner
www.ilovebigals.com
Square footage: 61,000
Number of employees: 185
Big Al’s bills itself as The Next Generation of Entertainment. The center, which opened in September, features 42 bowling lanes, but also a sports bar, arcade and billiards/shuffleboard.
Each week, the entertainment venue draws about 10,000 visitors. On Friday and Saturday nights, bowlers can wait two to three hours for a lane. They play in the arcade or have dinner in the sports bar.
Daniel Kirkwood, who shares ownership with his father Al and mother, Sandee, as well as his sister Kelley and brother-in-law Dean Gaylor, said they traveled the West searching for ideas for Big Al’s. They took notes on successful sports bar franchises such as ESPN Zone.
Big Al’s Sports Bar & Grill, which Kirkwood calls "the greatest sports bar west of the Mississippi," has stadium-like wraparound seating, exposed steel trusses, concrete floors and a skybox. The centerpiece is a TV screen that is eight feet tall and 36 feet wide, with an attached 40-foot ticker tape showing the latest sports scores.
During the week, Big Al’s attracts league bowlers, keeping 30 lanes open for them. The sports bar runs lunch specials to attract business people. Big Al’s also hosts corporate parties and sets aside private bowling lanes. During November and December, Big Al’s hosted seven or eight Christmas parties a day. In all, they hosted 170 parties last holiday season.
Kirkwood said Big Al’s is nothing like the bowling allies of the 1960s.
"Bowling has always been a top participation sport and a fun activity," he said. "It got a bad image, as the smoky, run-down bowling centers built in the 1960s were never upgraded very much."
Bowlers who slowly left the sport because of the condition of the aging allies are now coming back. "It’s amazing how people are coming out of the woodwork," he said.
– Sam Bennett
Finalist: Kazoodles Mary and Bob Sisson, owners www.kazoodlestoys.com
First year sales were 14.5 percent higher than expected
Bob and Mary Sisson knew Vancouver had a need – a good toy store.
The Vancouver couple was tired of driving to Oregon to buy quality toys for their grandkids and had a feeling they weren’t the only ones. After researching the independent toy store market, they opened Kazoodles on March 1, 2006, near Esther Short Park and the Vancouver Farmers Market.
"On Saturdays when I walk around this area, it just feels good to be part of Vancouver," said Mary Sisson. "I can’t help thinking this is a great place to live."
The Sissons come from backgrounds in journalism and public information, so before deciding to open the shop, they read up on entrepreneurship, took a Clark College small business class, attended SCORE workshops and teamed up with a SCORE counselor. They traveled along the West Coast and from California to New Hampshire, poking around toy shops and meeting with store owners.
The couple also joined the American Specialty Toy Retailing Assoc. and sought input from local business people and city officials.
The research paid off. Kazoodles surpassed its first-year sales goal of $250,000 by 14.5 percent, and was able to increase its staff from three to five part-time employees.
Sisson attributed the growth to filling a need in Vancouver and the location. When it opened, Kazoodles was the only independent toy store in the city, she said.
The Kazoodles marketing strategy includes advertisements in local newspapers, Vancouver Family Magazine and a discount on Tuesdays for grandparents who show off pictures of their grandchildren.
"It’s been really fun," Sisson said. "I can’t think of a better business to be in because everybody’s happy when they come in – except the kids who don’t want to leave."
– Megan Patrick Finalist: World Premier Realty Group Inc. Greg Fowler, John Payne, Dagmar Klug, owners www.worldpremierrealty.com
Sales totaled $25.9 million in 2006
World Premier Realty Group had a big year in 2006.
After opening its first office in Vancouver in January, the company closed its first real estate transaction that same month. The office opened with two agents, and has grown to 55 with about 100 letters of commitment from potential agents in the pipeline, said CEO Greg Fowler.
Vancouver remains World Premier’s largest office, but the company opened two new offices in Portland and Lincoln City, and others will open in Nevada, Idaho, Seattle and Salem, Ore., within the next few months.
World Premier’s real estate sales totaled more than $25.9 million in 2006 and grossed $750,177 in income.
The company had heavy expenses in opening the new offices but recovered well and showed positive numbers at the end of 2006.
Fowler said he is pleased with the growth but had expected more because he knows the company’s potential. He and other owners John Payne and Dagmar Klug, aim for World Premier Realty Group to be the largest real estate company in the country and grow in half the time it took other major companies to rise to the top.
Fowler also owns Vancouver-based mortgage company U.S. Funding Group, and he designed the real estate company to operate hand-in-hand with it. Having a real estate agent who understands investing benefits the consumer, he said.
Fowler attributes much of the company’s growth to the fee structure available to its agents. If agents refer other agents, they receive 10 percent of that agent’s transactions forever.
"What I’ve done is taken the money and put it back into the Realtor’s pocket," Fowler said. "I don’t make much money as an owner, but that’s not why I got into it."
– Megan Patrick
