Bowling enthusiasts team up with European champions to run a pro shop in Vienna
12/24/07
Some three years ago, Eveline and Walter Zmugg were a successful entrepreneur couple with a truck spare parts business 'Truck'n'Roll' near Graz, Austria. The "Zmuggies", as their friends call them, then got in touch with bowling and Austrian top players Thomas Gross and Thomas Tybl. Today the couple runs three businesses. Besides 'Truck'n'Roll' they have a bowling center in Leoben and a pro shop in Vienna.
L-R Thomas, Gross, Eveline and Walter Zmugg, Thomas Tybl. Click on the image to enlarge it.
"The Bowling Store" pro shop is the latest recruit to the family business. The Zmuggies bought the pro shop located in Plus Bowling, a 32-laner on the first floor of a huge food market in Austria's capital city, in the summer of 2007 and spent some 50.000 Euro for the renovation and modernization during July/August 2007. Tybl and Gross run the pro shop for the bowling enthusiasts.
"We don't have a contract with a certain ball manufacturer," said Thomas Gross (on the left), the No. 1 player in his country and a multiple national champion. "We offer all kinds of bowling balls to our customers and Thomas Tybl drills them." In addition to the bowling balls the "The Bowling Store" offers a wide range of bowling shoes, bags, shirts and accessories.
The remodeled pro shop has changed the outlook of the bowling center and was very well accepted by the customers of Plus Bowling. The bright, clean and modern shop looks a little strange in the old-fashioned atmosphere of the bowling center and the proprietor has decided to start some renovation projects in 2008.
Plus Bowling hosts the biggest annual bowling tournament in Austria and one of the biggest in Europe, the Vienna Open, a major tournament on the European Bowling Tour. It was also the venue for the 2007 Men's European Championships where Tybl and Gross delighted the Austrian bowling fans when they topped World Champions Robert Andersson and Martin Larsen, Sweden, en route to win the Doubles title.
Though already busy since more than three months, "The Bowling Store" pro shop was officially opened on Saturday, Dec. 23rd. "We just didn't find the time for an official opening", said 35-year-old Gross.
"We then decided to make the official opening in conjunction with our traditional Christmas tournament. The pro shop sponsors the event and we the made the tournament a little bit bigger than usual to say 'Thank you' to our customers.
Vienna, the capital city of Austria, a city of two million people has seven bowling centers and about 600 league bowlers. "Our customers are mainly the league bowlers from Plus Bowling", Gross said. "But we also serve the customers from the Steiermark (Styria) who bowl in Leoben."
Graz, the biggest city of Styria and the second biggest city in Austria, is located about 200 kilometers South of Vienna. The 12-laner in Leoben, a little town about 60 kilometers Northwest of Graz, which the Zmuggies bought in February 2007 is the sole bowling center in the entire Styria.
The picture shows the state-of-the-art bowling center in Leoben. Click on the image to enlarge it.
"Actually we wanted to build a new bowling center in Graz," states Eveline, who is the managing director of the family business. "But when we got the opportunity to buy 'Bowlingzentrum Leoben', we jumped on it. However, we still may build a bowling center in Graz. It's not decided yet."
Thomas "TT" Tybl, the former Austrian national coach, remembers an email which got from Eveline short after she had the first bowling lessons in Graz. "She wrote 'Hi, this is Eveline from the bowling clinic in Graz. Do you remember me? I want to build a bowling center.'
"Most people want to buy bowling shoes or a bowling ball after they had some lessons. Eveline wanted her own center", said the 33-year-old, a.k.a. "Dynamite Harry". "I was speechless."
If you would know the Zmuggies, you would probably not be surprised if they would have a fourth business soon.
Austria
Some three years ago, Eveline and Walter Zmugg were a successful entrepreneur couple with a truck spare parts business 'Truck'n'Roll' near Graz, Austria. The "Zmuggies", as their friends call them, then got in touch with bowling and Austrian top players Thomas Gross and Thomas Tybl. Today the couple runs three businesses. Besides 'Truck'n'Roll' they have a bowling center in Leoben and a pro shop in Vienna. L-R Thomas, Gross, Eveline and Walter Zmugg, Thomas Tybl. Click on the image to enlarge it.
"The Bowling Store" pro shop is the latest recruit to the family business. The Zmuggies bought the pro shop located in Plus Bowling, a 32-laner on the first floor of a huge food market in Austria's capital city, in the summer of 2007 and spent some 50.000 Euro for the renovation and modernization during July/August 2007. Tybl and Gross run the pro shop for the bowling enthusiasts.
"We don't have a contract with a certain ball manufacturer," said Thomas Gross (on the left), the No. 1 player in his country and a multiple national champion. "We offer all kinds of bowling balls to our customers and Thomas Tybl drills them." In addition to the bowling balls the "The Bowling Store" offers a wide range of bowling shoes, bags, shirts and accessories. The remodeled pro shop has changed the outlook of the bowling center and was very well accepted by the customers of Plus Bowling. The bright, clean and modern shop looks a little strange in the old-fashioned atmosphere of the bowling center and the proprietor has decided to start some renovation projects in 2008. Plus Bowling hosts the biggest annual bowling tournament in Austria and one of the biggest in Europe, the Vienna Open, a major tournament on the European Bowling Tour. It was also the venue for the 2007 Men's European Championships where Tybl and Gross delighted the Austrian bowling fans when they topped World Champions Robert Andersson and Martin Larsen, Sweden, en route to win the Doubles title.
Though already busy since more than three months, "The Bowling Store" pro shop was officially opened on Saturday, Dec. 23rd. "We just didn't find the time for an official opening", said 35-year-old Gross.
"We then decided to make the official opening in conjunction with our traditional Christmas tournament. The pro shop sponsors the event and we the made the tournament a little bit bigger than usual to say 'Thank you' to our customers.
Vienna, the capital city of Austria, a city of two million people has seven bowling centers and about 600 league bowlers. "Our customers are mainly the league bowlers from Plus Bowling", Gross said. "But we also serve the customers from the Steiermark (Styria) who bowl in Leoben."
Graz, the biggest city of Styria and the second biggest city in Austria, is located about 200 kilometers South of Vienna. The 12-laner in Leoben, a little town about 60 kilometers Northwest of Graz, which the Zmuggies bought in February 2007 is the sole bowling center in the entire Styria. The picture shows the state-of-the-art bowling center in Leoben. Click on the image to enlarge it.
"Actually we wanted to build a new bowling center in Graz," states Eveline, who is the managing director of the family business. "But when we got the opportunity to buy 'Bowlingzentrum Leoben', we jumped on it. However, we still may build a bowling center in Graz. It's not decided yet."
Thomas "TT" Tybl, the former Austrian national coach, remembers an email which got from Eveline short after she had the first bowling lessons in Graz. "She wrote 'Hi, this is Eveline from the bowling clinic in Graz. Do you remember me? I want to build a bowling center.'
"Most people want to buy bowling shoes or a bowling ball after they had some lessons. Eveline wanted her own center", said the 33-year-old, a.k.a. "Dynamite Harry". "I was speechless."
If you would know the Zmuggies, you would probably not be surprised if they would have a fourth business soon.