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• Position: NC TREND: Western Region - Patric zimmer bought TEN High Country Lanes

Early one February afternoon during a snowstorm that kept Watauga County schools dosed for a week, 11 of 16 bowling lanes at Boone's TEN High Country Lanes were filled with children and their parents, enjoying an indoor break from sledding and snowball fights. The renovated bowling alley has proven popular not only with kids but also with college students, retirees and tourists. When unseasonably warm weather closed ski resorts, the business was "overrun with people" looking for something to do, says owner Patric Zimmer.

In 2011, Zimmer and two partners bought TEN Park Lanes, an old-school Charlotte bowling alley built in 1960, and renovated it with a retro theme ("Picking up a split," November 2012). "It's been a great success," Zimmer says, hoping to replicate the story in Boone, a town with about 17,000 full-time residents, plus about 18,000 Appalachian State University students. Zimmer, whose day job is running a real-estate site-selection company in Charlotte, in July bought the former Boone Bowling Center from a couple who had owned it for about 30 years. It had been for sale for five years, housed in a shopping center once...