GOOD MORNING FLAGSTAFF

Easton Collection Center

3100 N Fort Valley Rd

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

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FLAGSTAFF FADEAWAY

High Country Motor Lodge presents "Flagstaff Fadeaway", a one day music festival to benefit the Glen Canyon Institute featuring performances from Color Green, Sylvie, The Senators, Spencer Cullum + Rich Tuth, and Kacy & Clayton

Saturday, September 30

High Country Motor Lodge

1000 W Route 66

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

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Would you like to broadcast your event to the community? Members of the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce can post events on flagstaffchamber.com. Posted events will be included in @7000ft, and the Chamber's bi-monthly newsletter. Download a copy of the PDF below for instructions on how to get started. Please reach out to info@ flagstaffchamber with questions.

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The City of Flagstaff is conducting an election this fall with the Election Day November 7, 2023. There will be no polling places on Election Day. All registered voters in the City of Flagstaff, effective October 10, 2023, will receive a ballot via mail from the County Elections Department. The last day to register to vote for this election is October 10, 2023. Ballots will mail and early voting begins on October 11, 2023.

The November election ballot will contain 19 city charter amendments proposed by Mayor & Council for voter consideration and one referendum (Proposition 480) validated by the City Clerk seeking to overturn Mayor & Council’s recent support for rezoning approximately 98 acres of land to support construction of a new hospital at 1120 W Purple Sage Trail in Flagstaff.

A list of the 19 proposed city charter amendments and details related to the rezoning case referendum, Prop 480, can be found at https://www.flagstaff.az.gov/2105/ Elections.

The Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has supported the request by our Flagstaff hospital to rezone the land at Purple Sage Trail for several years, and spoke in favor of the rezoning case several times this past spring before the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission and during public comment at three City Council meetings. This rezoning case passed Mayor and Council on votes of 6-1 and 6-0 in June 2023.

For more than 50 years, Flagstaff Medical Center has served our community well, and now it is time to improve the quality of care well into the future for these reasons and more.

• The hospital has outgrown the current FMC campus. NAH cannot expand or retrofit to accommodate the future health care technologies and innovations our community will need in the coming years and decades.

• The hospital’s proposal for a new facility will be a significant investment in the next generation of health care, which will ensure Flagstaff has the highest-quality, state-of-the-art health care close to home.

• The future hospital and ambulatory care center will be a benefit to:

– Patients seeking integrated, holistic health care options – from preventative, primary care needs to highly specialized, tertiary care.

– Physicians and nurses who want to work in a space that allows them to provide the best care available to their patients and community.

• The plan put forward by NAH will lead to:

- Continuous advances in health care technologies to Flagstaff

- Better care for all northern Arizona residents including neighboring tribal nations

- Potential affordable housing options on the existing NAH campus

Flagstaff and northern Arizona residents deserve to have access to the highest-quality health care, and the Chamber urges a Yes vote on Prop 480 to support a new hospital.

Q: How did you come to own Starlite Lanes?

Ron: I often joke that I was planted there by the federal witness protection program because of how unlikely it is that I would own and operate a bowling alley. Before buying it, I had no idea where Flagstaff even was, and I had not bowled in over 40 years. Simply put, I lost my Wall Street job and bought a bowling alley to feed my family.

Q: How long has Starlite Lanes been operating?

Ron: This year we are celebrating our 65th anniversary serving the community. Owning it for just thirteen of those years, my wife Karen and I are its fourth owners. Ironically, as old as the bowling alley is, it’s the most modern in Arizona, having replaced all our scoring, flooring, seating, monitors, and most importantly our pin setting machines, in just the last eighteen months.

Q: Where do you see the biggest growth potential for your practice?

Ron: As a single location business, we have exploited most of our top line growth opportunities, short of raising prices. For example, we added a kitchen soon after buying the business, and today, food is a meaningful part of our mix. Going forward, our best returns will come from introducing new technology and automation, like self-service kiosks.

Q: What has been your biggest workplace thrill or accomplishment?

Ron: No doubt, surviving Covid has been our greatest accomplishment to date. We bought a bowling alley because of its invulnerability to technologic change and its predictability as it relates to demand. We never thought we would ever be shut down, with no revenues coming in, but still responsible to pay the bills and maintain the well-being of our employees.

Q: How do your services enrich the quality of life the community?

Ron: Immediately after buying Starlite Lanes, it was apparent that we had bought a community platform that happened to be a bowling alley. Within a month, we were hosting community-wide fundraisers, and by our first spring, several “Celebrations of Life.” Since then, our lives have been enriched with birthdays, retirements, engagements and numerous weddings.

Q: What’s worse to you than failure?

Ron: Not trying. Owning Starlite Lanes is not my first entrepreneurial venture. Between Wall Street jobs, a partner and I came close to signing Letters of Intent with all seven of the motion picture studios to roll out digital projection technology across every movie screen in America. It was a paradigm shift that actually took place, but without my partner and my participating. Timing is everything, and we were too early.

Q: From whom do you seek business advice?

Ron: Let me be clear upfront; I am not a recreational bowler or a league bowler. In fact, I had never run my own business before buying Starlite Lanes. But I am a consumer, and like any consumer, I know you had better deliver a good product at a fair price to survive. That is my model and goal. I just happen to be executing it in the bowling industry.

Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in a small business?

Ron: Small business startups are risky, and mostly fail. To minimize that risk, I recommend someone buy an existing business. Knowing the operating history of what you own makes it more likely you can manage its future success. Ideally, the business had also been undermanaged, leaving room to introduce new revenue sources, reduce costs, or both.

Q: How would you describe your personal brand? Please explain how you drive your brand in daily business.

Ron: Your personal brand reflects what you do in the public eye. As I think about that, providing value to our guests is what drives my wife and I every day. We do this by providing high quality social experiences, accompanied by consistent service, all delivered at a fair price.

Q: What do you do for fun?

Ron: The last few years have been busy ones for me. First, we had to get through Covid, then we began a series of capital upgrades at the bowling alley. On top of all this, Karen and I moved, then renovated a broken-down house. And although I have an MBA, I love to learn, and re-enrolled in school. After over six hundred hours of classwork and exam prep, I became a Certified Financial Planner® this past spring. This is what I do for fun!

Q: To what do you attribute your business success?

Ron: Paying attention to the details has definitely been the key to my success, whether on Wall Street as an investment banker, or here on Main Street, as a proprietor. Before even stepping foot in Flagstaff, I had done extensive due diligence on the bowling industry, attended numerous industry trade shows, and visited countless centers. I arrived prepared.

Q: What is more important for you today than 10 years ago?

Q: If you could have one super power what would it be? Tell us why that ranks #1.

Ron: It is cliché, but my superpower would be knowing tomorrow’s news today. Think about what an advantage that would be. Altruistically, we could eliminate school shootings and most armed conflicts before they even start. Or instead, we could build tremendous wealth investing in tomorrow’s winning companies today, knowing how the future would turn out in advance.

Ron: Ten years ago, I was definitely more selfcentered, working and saving on behalf of myself and my family. Today, having comfortably secured our future, giving back to others drives me. At the bowling alley, that may be as simple as providing an affordable bowling experience. Or it might mean offering financial planning advice to a frequent patron, like a Purina blue collar employee, who happens to be sitting at our bar enjoying a beer.

Q: In 10 years, I hope to be...

Ron: At 61 years old, I should be answering that question with a wish list of retirement goals, but I don’t think I’ll ever really stop working as most people define retirement. Instead, I expect to be doing the things I want to do, when I want, where I want, and with whom I want. If that is as gratifying as my Starlite Lanes’ experience has been, I’ll be a lucky man.