By Don Rush
It’s been a hard nine months for the Collier family, of Oxford. For much of this year the state of Michigan has put the hurt on their family business which has spanned over three generations and 70 years, Collier Lanes. Covid-19 restrictions has kept the lanes closed totally for most of the year, and with limited restrictions starting this past Monday.
Sunday was a much better day.
“We ended up presenting a check for $44,451 to the Collier family,” Claude “JR” Lafnear said. Lafnear organized a community wide, drive-through donation drive to help the local business. He’s also head coach of the Oxford bowling teams. “We had donations come in after and have more coming in the mail so we think the total will be over $46,000.”
According to Lafnear over 300 cars rolled through to make donations Sunday afternoon. “As I stood there taking donations I realized that this community is so awesome. The Collier family is as Oxford as Oxford gets and the community just took care of one of their own. I may have got the ball rolling but the community of Oxford made it a success. I can hear the voice of Helen Smith saying, ‘Once a Wildcat always a Wildcat.’ We proved that Sunday,” he said.
That community support came at the right time. According to third generation owner Jeff Collier, while opening up with restricted capacity this week will help pay employee wages, it doesn’t pay the bills.
“I owe $45,000 in taxes; I have a $4,500 water and sewer bill due. How can I pay that, we haven’t been opened much. I was just going to send the bill back,” the frustrated business owner said early Sunday afternoon. And, while he is frustrated and if not a little angry with the state of business in the state of Michigan, he was happily emotional about Sunday.
“It is really awesome,” he said. “Unbelievable. So cool. I never would have expected this. Thank you.”
Lafnear was also very thankful of the support the community showed. “Without the help of the Oxford High School Bowling families it wouldn’t have been possible. The Oxford Police, Oxford Fire department, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, Oxford Tap, Domino’s pizza of Oxford and Todd Bell showed tremendous support all day long and for Santa ( Brad Jacobson) who made the day for the next generation of Colliers, when he presented the $44,000 check.”
Collier’s grandfather, Wesley “Red” Collier purchased the bowling alley in 1950. At that time it was six lanes and was located in downtown Oxford versus were it is now, 879 S. Lapeer Road in Oxford Township. In 1965, Jeff’s father Dean and his uncle Dell joined with their father “Red” in running the business. Jeff and his cousin Marty took over managerial and mechanical operations from their fathers in 1985.
Today, Jeff runs the business with his children, Mike and Erica Collier — the fourth generation of Colliers.
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The state’s latest restrictions means bowling alleys cannot offer conncessions. These businesses are restricted to 20 percent of fixed seating capacity, with six feet of distance between households or 20 people per 1,000 square feet in places without fixed seating. Total occupancy in each room is limited to 100 people.