Uptown Alley expanding to China

Chester-based Uptown Alley announced Thursday that it is expanding its bowling entertainment and dining venue to Changzhou, China. An Uptown Alley will open there in late summer at the 880,000-square-foot Global Harbor Mall.

Changzhou, located in the Jiangsu Province, about 110 miles from Shanghai, has a population of more than 4 million.

Uptown Alley said it would partner with Jiangsu Jingnan Global Harbor Mall Co. Ltd. in Changzhou on the expansion, with the Changzhou venue being the first of 15 it plans to open in China during the next five years.

In addition, Uptown Alley has forged a strategic partnership with Brunswick Bowling, based in Muskegon, Mich. Brunswick will provide bowling equipment and scoring systems for Uptown Alley’s expansion in China. Brunswick also provided equipment for the company’s Chesterfield County and Surprise, Ariz., locations, which both opened in 2012.

“We are excited to continue to partner with Uptown Alley as they expand their brand to China,” Brent Perrier, CEO of Brunswick Bowling Products, said in a statement.

Steve Uphoff, founder and owner of Uptown Alley/Uphoff Ventures, said the China expansion was three years in the making. “We are very excited to be expanding our entertainment experience to this marvelous country.”

The 63,000-square-foot Changzhou Uptown Alley venue will house 37 lanes, the most of any bowling alley in China.  In addition, like its U.S. counterparts in Virginia and Arizona, the venue will offer entertainment, drinks and food, including a large arcade game area, two dining areas, three bars, more than 100 HD video monitors, a children’s play area and private event spaces.

The restaurant will feature local Chinese items and American favorites, including the Big Uppy Burger.

Uptown Alley has other new openings scheduled closer to home. This fall the company will open a facility in Manassas, and next year it will open venues in White Plains, N.Y., and Virginia Beach.

Uptown Alley is owned and operated by Uptown Ventures LLC and Trifecta Management Group (TMG). The two companies have formed an alliance to acquire, develop and operate properties.

The 57,000-square-foot, multi-level Chesterfield County venue off Hull Street recently received the 2016 Honor Award for Excellence in Architecture from the American Institute of Architects in Richmond (AIA).  Uptown Alley is co-owned by Linda Uphoff, Uphoff’s wife and business partner, his daughter Cassandra Moore and son-in-law Steven Moore.