By Abigail Semple
“It’s called Karma baby and it goes around,” Alicia Keys sings in her song “Karma”. And this seems to be the course that Karma, the bowling alley, bar and nightclub will take in the weeks ahead.
Three years ago, the place fairly hopped and this continued for some time. But then its popularity dwindled somewhat, though the bowling alley has always had its staunch regulars and the odd new customer here and there.
Well it’s about to come around again, with the re-launching of the nightclub and the opening of a new Brazilian-themed restaurant.
It was in 2007, when the excitement of the ICC World Cup was at its peak in Guyana that Rita Dave and her husband, who had returned from the US to invest, set up Karma. They decided to shy away from the monotony of hotels and guesthouses and looked around for something that Guyana did not have, that would appeal to people. Research showed that family entertainment was next to nil – the seawalls, the gardens, maybe a concert or so and that was it. They noticed though that Guyana did not have a bowling alley and felt it was something that families could do together and decided to go for it.
Hence the Karma Bowling Alley was born.
As part of the name suggests, Karma comprises a bowling alley where the entire family could experience what they had previously only seen on television.
However, to ensure that they catered to all tastes, the owners also included in the package a nightclub and a bar, as well as a pools hall.
The name Karma was just a name. The owners had previously operated a business in the US under that name and decided to go ahead and use it here again “for lack of a better name”.
Though they didn’t advertise much, business thrived, as news of the new entertainment spot travelled by word of mouth. However, this was short lived, as not quite understanding the society in which they were operating Karma’s owners rented out the club one night to an “alternative lifestyle group”. As word spread about that, many patrons stopped visiting the club and eventually Karma as a whole. With little to no customers in the club, they were forced to bring that section of the business to a close.
The bowling alley, bar and pools hall continued, but business was very slow, because “when the club shut down we changed the opening hours of the other businesses from 2 pm to 4 pm, and because we didn’t advertise, when our regular customers came at 2 pm they saw the place shut up and thought we had closed down completely. No one knew that it was the timings that had changed.” This, along with the fact that the road leading to the entertainment spot is in a terrible state – potholed and almost inaccessible when it rains – caused the flow of customers to dwindle.
Nonetheless, they did not give up and as word of the new opening times spread, business began to pick up again.
Years have passed and the owners are now ready to make a comeback with the nightclub, this time better prepared with the knowledge of what to do and what not to do when dealing with the entertainment sector of Guyana.
As a result, the new Karma Nightclub will be launched some time this month. The deplorable state of the road aside, the plan is for the new club to be as popular as the best clubs in town and it was revealed that Hits and Jams (HJ) Entertainment Group is “very interested in the club”. In fact, the two sides are in discussions currently, which could see HJ making Karma its official club.
The Karma club is bigger than most nightclubs in the city, has excellent lighting and sound effects, and because it’s spacious, allows patrons to arrange the seating in whatever way they please, as most of the furniture can be moved.
There are several other plans for the club, which for now the owners are keeping close to their chests, but which will be
revealed at the launching.
