HAMBURG, NY (WKBW-TV) — This year Braymiller's Lanes bowing center is 80-years-old. That makes it Hamburg's oldest business.
Howard Braymiller says that the building wasn't always a bowling center "If you go way back it was a carriage shop like a horse drawn carriage shop and then it was a Studebaker dealer."
Howard's father took over the bowling center in 1945. Howard says it's been like his second home ever since. "I was five or six years old. That's when I started to bowl."
Howard planned to turn the business over to his son but he wasn't fond of retirement, so he's back here part-time. He says "That's what I miss the most is taking to everybody. I know everybody that comes in. If I don't know them I make an effort to know them."
As many as a thousand people a week pass through the doors here to play on Braymiller's eight lanes. With bumpers, and ball launching slides, children as young as three can take up the sport.
There are some historic photo's on the wall depicting the early days, including one of the early pin setter and several pictures of Howard's brother Lee who was one of the county's top bowlers in the 1950's.
Braymiller's Lanes Bowling Center is at 39 Buffalo St, Hamburg, NY 14075 You can find more information at their website.
